1881 305 "And they made Solomon, the son of David, king the second time; and anointed him unto the Lord to be the chief governor, and Zadok to be priest. Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king, instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him." (1 Chron. 29:22-23.)
It is both for the glory of the Lord Himself, and for the comfort of the soul of the believer, to know how all the purposes of God were laid in Christ before the foundation of the world. Christ was, as one has said, the foundation of all the divine counsels — the first idea, if I may so speak, in the mind of God — the Alpha, the Beginning of the ways of Jehovah. (Prov. 8:22.) He was given, it is true, in due time for the church, but the church from everlasting had been given to Him, and not He to the church. "The man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man" (1 Cor. 11:8); and therefore we hear Him saying (if the application be allowed), "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them." (Ps. 139:16.) So also we read of "the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord;" and again, of "His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began;" and many like passages. So, as to the Saviour Himself, His sorrows and glories were all prepared of old. His sorrows, as the Lamb of God, were written "in the volume of the book;" and it was by "the everlasting covenant" that all His glories were secured; for by it, as the pledge of them all, was He brought from the dead, the Great Shepherd of the sheep. (Ps. 40:7; Heb. 10:7, Heb. 13:20.)
But these, His sorrows and glories, were not only thus in covenant from the beginning ordered and secured, but they were also presented in types and shadows before the faith of His elect, when ages and dispensations had begun their course, and as they were rolling onward. Thus the sacrifices which have been offered continually since the fall of man, as is commonly known, set forth His sufferings. The tabernacle and temple, with their furniture and services, variously exhibited Him. There was no speech or language in them, but faith heard in all the wondrous tale. And it was this which made "the house of the Lord" the scene of the ancient believer's sweetest joy; for he there beheld, as in a glass darkly, "the beauty of the Lord." (Ps. 27:4.) In the temple he inquired after Jesus.
But not only in things like these was He set forth, but persons, from time to time, were raised up of God to present Him in different features.
In Eden, Adam, as lord of the creation, as the sleeping man, as the husband of the woman, set Him forth variously. After the transgression and loss of Eden, the promise of the Seed of the woman made Him known in a general way as the great object of faith and hope; and then the different glories which were prepared for Him as this Seed, this Bruiser of the serpent, were gradually and successively unfolded in various persons.
But I would here turn aside for a moment to inquire how we are to trace out and search for the Lord Jesus, the Christ of God, in the scriptures. We know He is to be found there abundantly, and indeed this is the formal reason for searching them: as He says Himself, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they that testify of me." (John 5:39.) "The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy." "He wrote of me," says the Lord, speaking of Moses; and again, in company with two of His disciples, "Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." The scriptures, as the Jews judged, were the depository of life (John 5:39); and in this they judged rightly. Their error was, that they mistook the place in the scriptures where the life lay; they thought that it lay in the law which had been given to them, so that life was theirs exclusively. (Rom. 9:31.) But we know that it rather lay in "the testimony of Jesus," who is the Life. (John 5:40, John 17:3; 2 Cor. 3:17.)
Where, then, it may be asked, in the scriptures are we to find Jesus? By what rule are we to trace Him? To this I would say, there is a special gift to teach conferred on some (Acts 13:1; Rom. 12:7; Eph. 4:11), and their duty is to stir up that gift for the common profit. But besides this, the scriptures are given for the learning of all the saints, and the mind that is most spiritually exercised will be the ablest and most skilful in searching them, and Jesus in them, so as neither to lose a trace of Himself, nor to mistake any other for Him. (Heb. 5:11-14.) I would say also, we are not told beforehand in every place where He is, but are commanded to search; but we are told beforehand in some places where He is, that our further search may in some measure be graciously and divinely directed. And, above all, we should remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a single eye, the surest pledge of a successful search (1 Cor. 3:1-3, 1 Cor. 14:20; 1 Peter 2:1); for he that does the will shall know of the doctrine, and "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him."
But let us know this first, that God the Spirit, the witness of Jesus, must be trusted supremely in the search to keep our feet and guide our eye. When a sight of the distant land was given to Moses, it was given to him by the Lord Himself, from the mount to which the Lord Himself had previously led him. He neither chose his point of observation, nor directed his own eye — it was the Lord who did it. (Deut. 32:49, Deut. 34:1.) And so with us now, through the Spirit; He it is who shows us things to come; His guidance of our feet, His direction of our eye are needed, while in spirit we search out and survey the great and excellent things concerning Jesus and His glory in all the scriptures. Had Moses stood on lower ground than Pisgah, where God had guided him, he would not have seen all the land; had not God Himself directed his eye, he would not have distinguished Gilead from Judah, or the city of palm-trees from Zoar; and so, as the Lord the Spirit now graciously leads and teaches us, in such measure shall we, to the profit of our souls, behold the glory of the Lord in the scriptures. (2 Cor. 3)
"To look upon the works of nature, and to look into the ways of nature, are very different things." So, to take up merely the materials of scripture, and to enter into its hidden wisdom, are different; the law has its shadows, prophecy its spirit — the mysteries their wisdom, and history its allegories; but we may miss these things. Moses looking from Pisgah on the distant land, would not have looked on it aright, had he not seen it as the inheritance of Israel, though it was really then the possession of the Gentiles: as to its condition at that time, it was the Amorite's land, but in the counsels of God it was Immanuel's land, and so Moses surveyed it, and so is scripture to be surveyed. To the eye of faith the victories of David and throne of Solomon are the victories and throne of Christ. "The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy."
It is little to say to Him, "The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver." We can know but little of the sweetness of that true honey-comb, should it cost our soul an effort to join in that utterance with the psalmist. But we should learn also to say, May thy testimonies, O Lord, be my counsellor, as well as my delight! By these may thy servant be warned, and in the keeping of them find great reward!
For my present purpose, then, in searching out the glories of the Lord in the scriptures, I would begin with Noah, who manifestly was His type in one very glorious character. The prophecy that went before upon Noah was this — "This shall comfort us concerning our word and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed." (Gen. 5:29.) This introduced Him as the remover of the curse front a corrupted earth, and as the rest, consequently, of those who had been doomed, with pain of sorrow and sweat of brow, to eat of it and to till it. Now what sweet unfoldings, by way of type, of the still hidden glory of Christ have we here! Here is shown to us a pattern of beautiful things yet to come, but which in their day shall be fashioned accordingly. Here we see Christ, the true Noah, Heir of the new earth, when, as we read, "there shall be no more curse," having all things therein delivered into his hand — the cattle upon a thousand hills; the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea owning Him as Lord, and His name as Governor made excellent through all the earth. For thus it is to be when the gates lift up their heads to Him, and the earth and its fulness shall be His. (See Ps. 8, Ps. 24)
1881 321 Again, in further process of time, it pleased Him to make another of His glories known. In the person of the patriarch Abraham, we have him before us as the father of the household of God; as it is written, "Behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations, neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee." Now this promise was to Abraham's Seed, that is, to Christ, as we learn from the Epistle to the Galatians. Is not the Lord Jesus Christ really too the Father of the many nations? And so the time will be when He shall be manifested in this character, when He will gather His households around Him like flocks of sheep, when He shall be revealed "the Father of the everlasting age," and when those to whom He has given life shall he with Him, and He shall say, "Behold I, and the children whom God hath given me."
Thus in Noah we see Jesus as Lord and Heir of the earth and its fulness, and in Abraham as Head and Father of the whole family of God — two bright dawnings of His predestinated glory and kingdom, when a rich demesne shall be spread out beneath Him, owning His Lordship, and happy households shall be gathered about Him, knowing His Fatherhood. But we are still to look for more characteristic glories in the midst of all this. These we shall find in the combined dignities of the King and the Priest, two personages which are therefore made very familiar to us in scripture. Moses and Aaron were united in order to present them together; as they were afterwards, though in feebler lines (for the memorials of Christ were much effaced through the world's increasing evil), in Zerubbabel and Joshua.
But a striking expression of Christ's priestly dignity is given to us in the person of Phinehas, and that of His royal honours in Solomon.
Phinehas stood in an evil day. Israel had joined himself to Baal-peor, and the heads of the people must be slain, ere the anger of the Lord that was then kindled could be turned away. Phinehas rose up from among the congregation, and executed the judgment, and thus made atonement for the people. The Lord then spake to Moses, saying, "Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel (while he was zealous for my sake among them), that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy; wherefore say, Behold I give unto him my covenant of peace, and he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel." (Num. 25:11-13.) So also Christ, the true Phinehas, was glorified to be made an High Priest by Him who said unto Him, "Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee." He took not this honour unto Himself, He rather learnt obedience by the things that He suffered, through which, as Phinehas, He made atonement, and turned away wrath; but He has been "called of God an High Priest after the order of Melchisedek." He is the Priest of the Most High God, the only Mediator between God and man. Levi is nothing, and Aaron is nothing, and Phinehas is nothing — Jesus is the Priest; in His hand alone the blessing is laid, and by Him it is ministered.
But while He is thus the Priest, He is King also: "a Priest upon his throne" — the true Melchisedek; and Solomon, as we have observed, sets Him forth the most brightly in His royal honours. Unto Solomon the whole earth sought, and brought every man his present; and so all nations whom He has made shall come and worship before Jesus, when He shall take the dominion under the whole heaven, and a kingdom that shall break in pieces every other kingdom, standing for ever.
But here we desire to be somewhat more particular, and to take a closer view of the "King in his beauty." Would that the sight were more transforming even now, through the power of faith! But surely we can at least say, that we do long to see the Man of sorrows thus; we do desire to see those days of His wherein He, that once bore the curse for us, shall bear the glory, and that for ever and ever.
In order fully to see in Solomon the type of Jesus the King, we must previously meditate on his father David, and David and Solomon thus combined will constitute a very full and beautiful type of Him "with whom we have to do." And while I write these words, I taste something of the sweetness of them; what marvel is it, beloved brethren, that we can speak of Jesus, the Son of God, as of Him with whom we have to do! But so it is, grace has made it so; and we may therefore well take leave of all thoughts and desires that are not associated with Him.
There is one feature in the character of David which marks him in every scene through which he passes, from the time that we see him as the shepherd in Bethlehem, to the time of his delivering up of the throne of Israel to his son, Solomon. He was at all times and in all scenes the servant. It mattered not with him what the sphere of labour might be, this was his character. As a suitable introduction of him as such, we find him, in the beginning of his history, slighted and forgotten, even his father esteeming him not. He was the youngest of his father's sons, and (scarcely putting him among his children, but rather treating him as a servant) his father says of him to Samuel, "Behold, he keepeth the sheep." (1 Sam. 16:11.) From this place of scorn and neglect, however, he is drawn forth by the signal favour of God, and anointed to the throne of Israel; but the virtue of this anointing was still in everything to keep him as the servant. Whatever in his conduct is opposed to this is properly not of himself. It is this which gives him throughout his character, not doing his own will, or seeking his own glory.
Thus, as soon as he was anointed, this grace at once manifests itself in him. He is called up to the royal city to wait on king Saul, and as the wise charmer, by the charming of his harp, to allay the evil spirit that had visited the king from the Lord. (1 Sam. 16:23.) From this service we find him returned to the care of his sheep at Bethlehem (1 Sam. 17:15); and when again called forth, it was only in like manner to be the minister of others. It was not, as his brother injuriously judged, that the pride and naughtiness of his heart led him to the battle with Goliath and the Philistines in the plain of Elah; he went at the bidding of his father to carry provisions to his brothers in the camp, the servant of their necessities; but when he arrived there, occasion showing itself to him, he at once offers himself as the servant of Israel's necessities and of Jehovah's glory. The Lord had been dishonoured, and His people threatened, and this was "the cause" that moved David to say to Saul, "Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine." The promised honours and riches that were to be his who killed Goliath were not that which moved him;* for after the victory we do not find him claiming them, flattering and splendid as they were (the very things for one who sought to glorify himself), but we hear him saying, "Who am I, and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?" and we see him becoming again the king's harpist; thus, instead of seeking his own glory, ministering to others in the humblest service that might be appointed him. (1 Sam. 18:10-18.)
[*It might have been after he had endured the taunts of Eliab, his eldest brother, and been charged by him with pride and naughtiness of heart, that he breathed out his soul in the language of Psalm 131; that, while turning away from his brother, his soul turned towards his God with these words: "Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eye lofty, neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me; surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother, my soul is even as a weaned child." And then, in the confidence that Jehovah was the strength of His people, he went forth and onward to meet Goliath, encouraging his soul with these closing words of that lovely psalm, "Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever." How often, may we not say, does the Lord by His Spirit thus vindicate and encourage His poor people in their own souls, when men without injuriously reproach them! (See Job 19)]
Again, in all his sufferings at the hand of Saul we discern nothing but the same spirit of submission, that never sought its own rights or avenged its own wrongs. He yields to the enmity of the king. He retires from court, and dwells in dens and caves of the earth. He willingly loses sight of himself altogether, doing service if called on as the soldier of Israel and the king, but leaving all the profit and honour of his service to them. He would not dare to harbour the thought of avenging himself upon his persecutor. Rather than touch the Lord's anointed, he would be "a partridge in the mountains" all his days. Though conscious that he had been appointed to the throne of Israel, he would make what promises, enter into what covenants, the rival house of his enemy pleased, careless how this might tend to exalt them, and abase himself. (See 1 Sam. 20:17; 1 Sam. 23:18; 1 Sam. 24:22.) And when his enemy fell, and his own sorrows were thus to end, and the way to the throne was made plain before him, he had no heart to rejoice in those his own advantages — he looked not on his own things, and knew nothing but grief at the fall and dishonour of the Lord's anointed. "Tell it not in Gath," says he, "publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph." (2 Sam. 1:20.) The messenger of the tidings did not understand David. He judged that he brought joy to David, and that he should have received a reward for his pains; but David is filled only with the sad vision of Israel's dishonour, and the sin of this Amalekite in lifting his hand against the anointed of the Lord. "The world knoweth us not," says one, speaking as the elect of God; and this was now illustrated in David and this Amalekite; their griefs are not our griefs, nor their joys our joys.
But we have to trace the servant-character of David still further, for no change of scene or circumstance has power to work a change in the character of the energy of the Spirit of God that was in him; scenes and circumstances, change as they may, serve only to set forth this character more brightly. And indeed, beloved in the Lord, this is that which alone can end in the reward of the kingdom. Nothing but service here shall be honoured hereafter; as it is written, "Whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister, and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all." And again, "If any man serve me, him shall my Father honour."
We find David, then, on the throne; having received it, however, not at his own will, but called to it by the Lord Himself. But what was the way of David now? Why, just what it had been before; just what had signalised him when his hand bore the shepherd's crook, the harp, or the warrior-sling; just that which had marked him in the caves and holds of the wilderness, now marks him seated on the throne of Israel. He is still, and that only, the servant, doing Jehovah's pleasure alone, and seeking only His glory. He gives himself no rest. He does not pause in His course till the enemies of the Lord and of His people submit themselves; he pursued and destroyed, and turned not again until he had consumed them. (2 Sam. 22:33.)
And the time of peace, as well as the time of war, was the time of service with king David; at home or abroad he is the same; and therefore not only in the field is he seen pursuing the enemy, but in the city we hear him saying, "Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed, I will not give sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." (Ps. 132:3.) Accordingly he makes preparation, and brings up the ark of the Lord God, which had lain neglected in the days of Saul (1 Chron. 13:3), to its place in the midst of the tabernacle, which he had pitched for it. He waits on it himself — he offers his burnt-offerings and his peace-offerings there. He blesses the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, and, as a girded servant, he makes them to sit down to meat, and serves them. (2 Sam. 6:19.) He dances before the ark in the joy of one who knew only the joy of ministering to the praise of another; and he would be more vile than thus, and base in his own sight, and willingly be put among the abjects, so that he might but duly fulfil his service as the minister of the glory of Jehovah, and of the joy of His people. And in the end unwearied in serving as at the beginning, he purposes to build an house for this ark of the Lord. "See now," he says to Nathan, "that I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains." His zeal in this was somewhat without knowledge, but it was the zeal of one who desired to serve fully.
And when forbidden to build the house (for reasons which we shall consider presently), in his trouble he prepares for it (1 Chron. 22:14) gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, timber also, and stone; and provides and hires all manner of cunning men for every manner of work. And not only this, but he gives patterns of all things to Solomon, patterns of the cherubim, the courts, and the treasuries. He numbers and distributes the Levites into courses for the service of the house, and settles the order of the sons of Aaron. He appoints the offices of the singers instructed in the songs of the Lord; he settles the divisions of the porters, the officers, and the judges, the captains of the several months, and the princes of the tribes.
And when all his service is ended, and nothing remains but to reap the fruit of it, and the glory and kingdom for the which all these things had been prepared, he retires, ceasing to be, when he must cease to serve. The throne of Jerusalem was no more to him than his shepherd-tent at Bethlehem; in both all his desire was to fill as an hireling his day. And now, having come to the evening of his day (for "man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening"), he retires. He will not glorify himself. "Take with you," says he to his officers, "the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon, and let Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, anoint him there king over Israel, and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon: then shall ye come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne, for he shall be king in my stead, and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah." (1 Kings 1:33-35.) He gives up the throne which his hands had established, and all the honours of it; these were nothing in his account — he had finished his work and service, and this was everything to him.
Thus, the moment that all was ready for the full display of the glory, he disappears; he had sown, and would have another now reap; he had laboured, and was willing that another should now enter into his labours. He made Solomon his son king over Israel. In the assembly of the princes and the captains, with the officers and mighty men at Jerusalem, Solomon sat on the throne of Jehovah as king, instead of David his father, and all Israel obeyed him, and all the princes and mighty men, and all the sons likewise of king David submitted themselves to Solomon the king. (1 Chron. 29:24.)
Thus have we in this blessed man the perfect pattern of a servant; he was the servant who would not go out free, but would serve forever. (Ex. 21:1-6.) Such was David; but in Solomon we see another thing altogether. Solomon was one who entered into another man's labours; he reaped where another had sown; he enjoyed by inheritance the honours and the name which David in his trouble and service had gotten. In the sight of Israel Jehovah magnified Solomon exceedingly, and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him. He passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom, and all of them sought his presence, and God made the name of Solomon better than David's name, and his throne greater than David's throne. (1 Kings 1:47.) For David did the Lord call His servant, but Solomon He called His son, saying, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son." By inheritance he obtained a better name than his father. As heir of the fruit of David's toil, Solomon appears before us full of peace and prosperity; not as David had been, the scorn of others, but the boast and joy of his people, and the very centre of the world's attraction, his fame going abroad into all the earth.
And with this better name was reserved for him the honour of building the house of God, for that work is to be regarded rather as honour than as service, an honour too great for David the servant, but reserved for Solomon the son, as God said to David, "Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father." (1 Chron. 28:6.) As before He had said to Nathan, "Go and tell David my servant, thus saith Jehovah, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in; I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons, and I will establish his kingdom; he shall build me an house, and I will establish his throne for ever, and I will be his father, and he shall be my son." (1 Chron. 17:4, 13.) Other reasons, it is true, appear in the mind of God for hindering David from being builder of the house. Thus, for instance, in David's time the children of Israel had not come to their rest, the kingdom was still unsettled, and the people were in the attitude of being girded for service, or harnessed for war, and the Lord refused to enter into His settled habitation while His people were thus. In all their afflictions He had been afflicted, and in their wanderings He had walked in a tent and in a tabernacle; and till He had planted them in their ordained place, He would Himself enter no house of cedar. (1 Chron. 17) Again, David had shed blood abundantly, wars had been about him on every side, but his son was to be "a man of rest," rest was to be given him from his enemies round about; peace and quietness were to be unto Israel in his days; and then. But not till then, would the Lord arise into His dwelling-place. (1 Kings 5:3; 1 Chron. 22:8-10, 1 Chron. 28:3.) But besides all this, I say it was because Solomon was the son,* as we have seen, that the building of the house was reserved for him. The house was the sign of constancy and abiding, as it is written, "The servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the son abideth for ever."
[*In the Hebrew language there is a kindredness in the words that signify "house" and "son."]
Solomon's was the time of rest. No enemy remained for him to conquer, no preparations by trouble and toil were left for him to make; he sits down fall of honours and peace. And his was the time of joy also. Then for the first time did songs break forth from the midst of the congregation of Israel. Moses of old had appointed sacrifices, but no songs had been heard in the tabernacle. David had ordained the singers, given them their charge, and settled them in their courses, but all this joy was prepared for Solomon; it was in the house that he had builded that the priests, the trumpeters, and the singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and brethren, first awakened the praises of Jehovah in Israel. Above all days in Israel was that day joyous, when they began to sing to the Lord, "for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever." (2 Chron. 5:13.) And glorious, we may say, above all was the cloud which then filled the temple. This was a sample of the Solomon days; nothing was there but joy and glory. The priests could not stand to do their usual service, for the glory had displaced them. No sacrifices could then be bound to the horns of the altar, for nothing but the fruit of praise and joy was there, thanksgivings were heard, and the voice of melody only. And in this Jehovah rested — the joy of His Zion had now come, and He that inhabits the praises of Israel filled the place with His presence. (2 Chron. 5:12-14.)
Now these things which we have been tracing in David and Solomon are shadows of better things; "the body is of Christ." Christ is the great ordinance of God; "the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy;" the promises made to Abraham were really to his seed, which is Christ. The exhibition of grace in David, and of glory in Solomon, in like manner, are really and fully all of Christ. (Gal. 3:10; Heb. 1:5.) And thus throughout, all these highly-favoured ones were only witnesses of the things that should be found in Jesus. This was their joy, to wait, with their various testimony upon Him. (See John 3:29)
We have seen in David the servant-character fully exhibited. We have tracked him from the field of the shepherd to that of the conqueror, from the court of the king to the holds in the wilderness, and from thence up to the throne, and have marked this one character throughout. And so was it perfectly and throughout in the blessed Jesus, the true David. Before the foundation of the earth He gave Himself to service, as in the volume of the book is written of Him, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." While manifest in flesh, He ever was seen as having come forth, not to be ministered unto, but to minister; not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. He could say at all times, "I seek not mine own glory." He emptied Himself, and the form that He took was that of a servant. Ho refused to know Himself, saying, "My goodness extendeth not to thee;" and again, "Why callest thou me good?"
There was always (save when the testimony for which He stood on the earth would call on Him for a while to stand confessed in His divine glory*) this hiding of Himself. Thus, when invited of His mother to display Himself at the marriage in Cana, He says to her, "Woman, what have I to do with thee, mine hour is not yet come?" When challenged by His brethren to show Himself to the world, He replies in like manner, "My time is not yet come." (See John 2, 7.) When He had been doing His wonted wonders of grace, and the people were astonished, His disciples, desirous that He should be magnified in the eyes of the world, say unto Him, "All men seek for thee;" but His only answer was that of a servant, "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth." And such was He on the earth throughout. A body had been prepared for Him, His ear was opened, and, like David, He had but to finish the work that was given Him to do.
[*Thus, in His more sacred moments with those He had chosen out of the world, and who should of themselves have judged rightly of this, He would distinctly either acknowledge or reveal His glory as one with the Father; see, among other instances, Matthew 16:17; John 9:37; John 11:25; John 14:9. So also, at times, in presence of the adversaries, He was constrained to let His glories be known, as on two occasions — being pressed by the unbelief of the Jewish rulers, He rebuked the perverseness of their hearts, and insisted on the glory of His person, tilt they would have stoned Him. (See John 8, John 10) And so, when called to stand before the accuser, He did not hesitate to answer the high priest's challenge (Luke 22:70); and before Pontius Pilate He witnessed a goad confession.]
And He was perfect in this through every stage. As a child, He was subject to His parents, fulfilling all righteousness as such; and when anointed of God, like David, He still came forth only to serve, whether it were the Father's glory, or our necessities. As towards the Father, whether in solitudes by night, or in labours by day, the Father might still pronounce upon Him, "Behold, my servant." He fulfilled His day, ever working the work of Him that sent Him: the vows of His God were upon Him, and He did all, until He were entitled to say, "It is finished" — He was obedient unto death. And as towards us, He was always waiting on our necessities; He went about doing good: every sickness and every disease among the people, every city and every village in the land knew him thus — none sought His help in vain.
And here we would turn aside for a moment to see this great sight, the necessity for all this humiliation of the blessed Son of God. Surely it was because He had to undo the mighty mischief which our pride had wrought, when we sought, being tempted, to be as God (Gen. 3:5-6); and this could be done only by the Highest emptying of Himself, and the Brightness of the glory of God being manifest in flesh, and veiling Himself in the form of a servant. Adam the creature had sought his own glory, but the Son of God emptied Himself of His. To be as God, though a creature of yesterday, was the daring design of the first man — to take the form of a servant, though in the form of God, was the willing humiliation of the Second; and thus the attempted dishonour to God by the one was abundantly repaired by the other.
1881 337 And this humiliation of the Son of God was marked not only through His life and ministry (as we have been noticing somewhat in detail), but in the person that He had previously assumed (being in the esteem of men nothing better than the "carpenter, the son of Mary"), and also very strikingly in His death, which He subsequently accomplished at Jerusalem, in all the circumstances of it, as well as in the fact itself. The demands made upon Him then were just what the fallen creature in his pride would naturally have made. "And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests, mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe on him." (Matt. 27:39.) But these demands, such was the perfectness of His service and subjection, Jesus the Son of God utterly resisted. He had before this met the same temptation immediately from Satan himself, He met it now at the hand of man. Satan had sought to have Him glorify himself (Matt. 4:6); and man, moved by that pride that had been the old transgression in the garden, now sought the same; but He was found faultless, Satan and man came, and had nothing in Him. Thus was He "crucified through weakness." Everything that the pride of the fallen creature would scorn and reject, and count as weakness, was in Him; but in this was God's delight and honour; for a Son of man thus, in the loss of reputation and life, in the cross and its shame, met all the rebukes and enmity of man's pride and apostasy: "For thy sake have I borne reproach," might Jesus say to the Father: "the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me." And, oh, what a savour of rest with God must all this have given to His blood! The satisfaction of it we know (and this is our comfort) entered so deeply, that "Jehovah said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake." (Gen. 8:21; Eph. 5:2.)
And thus also can He, a Son of man, hold glory and a kingdom in righteousness. In His person, throughout His life, and by His death, as we thus see, He has given its answer to all the pride and assumption of man; and He can therefore take the honour of dominion which man has forfeited, and hold it again in righteousness. He has loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; His throne shall therefore be for ever and ever. He was once crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God now; and the kingdoms of the world shall be His hereafter. And should not we, beloved, be ready to be "weak in him," accounted of the world vile, if it will, that our present life may be more in the power of the same God, and our coming glory, glory at the hand of our God, in company with the once — nay, the still — despised Jesus?
But not only was He thus the perfect Servant, both of the Father and of sinners, while here among us, even unto death, and all its circumstances, but now in heaven the Son of God is waiting on us; as He said, when leaving His church, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." How with them, but as using His title to all power for them? as it is written also in Mark, "And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them." But not only as working with them thus in their ministry, but He serves in the heavenly temple, continually making intercession there for us, washing still His disciples' feet,* till He presents them faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. And even then, when He comes forth from this His sanctuary on high, commissioned to make His enemies His footstool, it will be as the servant of the glory of God that He will come forth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth. (Isa. 43:1-4.) And, more wondrous still, when this is done, and the enemy and the avenger are stilled, He will wait on those who shall then be found His faithful watching saints, for "He will gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." (Luke 12:37.) And at last, in the midst of the throne, He will for ever feed them, and lead them unto living fountains of waters.** (Rev. 7:17.)
[*The service of love which Jesus had to render to the church was to prove itself a faithful and continuing service, which would be maintained in the midst both of the terrors of the cross and the glories of heaven. His action, recorded in John 13, of washing His disciples' feet, is the symbol of that service which He renders us now in the glories of heaven, for it followed the supper, and the supper was the symbol of His death, as He said, "Take, eat, this is my body;" and again, "This cup is the new testament in my blood." So that His present action, as High Priest in heaven, is set forth in this mystical washing of their feet. He washed us wholly once from our sins in His blood, He washes our feat daily by His advocacy and Spirit, waiting contiuually on our infirmities and defilements.
And this scripture shows us also how the Lord associated glory with service; for we read in it, "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God, He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments, and took a towel and girded himself." So fully was He the true David; the throne as well as the wilderness was to witness His service; heaven as well as the cross was to present Him as the servant.]
[**We may here, while tracing the perfectness of the subjection of our blessed Lord, notice also the voluntariness of it, and in this He stands infinitely removed from David; for David was bound as a creature to serve, but the Son of God was free in saying, "Lo, I come." We read in scripture of Jesus under the character of the servant with the ear dug, bored, or opened. (Ps. 40:6; Isa. 50:5.) This language is used in reference to Exodus 21:1-6, the place which gives us an account of the ordinance in the ceremonial law, by which any one of the children of Israel undertook perpetual service (or service until the year of Jubilee) to another. This perpetual service was denoted by the bored ear, and could not be entered into by coercion, but only by the Israelite's willing and well-advised surrender of himself because of love to his master, his wife, or his children. And this ordinance of willing and yet perpetual service does beautifully set forth the blessed Jesus. For He is the willing servant, as He says Himself of His life which He gave for the sheep, "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." (John 10:18); and as the apostle says, "He gave himself for us," and who, "being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation." (Titus 2:14; Phil. 2:6-7.) But He is the perpetual servant also, for having made Himself the husband of the church, He cannot but love her to the end, as it is said, "No man ever yet hated his own flesh,” and He has made us "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." (Eph. 5:29-30.) He has plainly said, "I love my master, my wife, and my children — I will not go out free." (Ex. 21:5.) And thus does His bored ear tell us at once of His full and everlasting love to us, and yet of His own divine glory, for, being the willing as well as the perpetual servant, he must be co-ordinate with the Highest Himself, the fellow of the Lord of hosts. (Zech. 13:7.)]
Thus is He the true David, no change of scene or circumstances working any change in His character as the servant of Jehovah's glory and of His people's joy. The perfectness of all this could not have been duly set forth in David, had David hesitated for a moment to retire when the time for the revelation of the glory of His throne and kingdom had come. But, as we have seen, he did not; when David ceased to have service to do, David would be no more — his right hand knew no cunning but this. And so with Jesus, who emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant. He glorified not Himself; "Not my will, but thine be done," was ever His word. But God has highly exalted Him as Solomon, and given Him a name which is above every name, in the which every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth. God has said to Him, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." He has crowned Him with glory and honour now, and will put all things under His feet hereafter. He will bring Him forth the second time into the world, and all the angels of God shall worship Him. On His thigh and on His vesture shall His name be written, "King of kings, and Lord of lords." To Him whom men despised, to this servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, all nations shall call Him blessed. His throne shall be for ever and ever; the oil of gladness shall anoint Him above His fellows; and the God of the whole earth shall He be called.
The King shall be seen in His beauty then; He shall bless the people like Solomon, and sustain them in all their necessities (2 Chron. 6), on His breast-plate and on His shoulders bearing their names continually. And like as Solomon builded cities, and fenced them with walls and bars, so that "all Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon," so, says the King by His prophet, "My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting-places." (1 Kings 4:25; 2 Chron. 8:4; Isa. 32:18.) The word of knowledge was with Solomon, and largeness of heart, (even as the sand that is on the seashore) was given to him, and the spirit of understanding to discern judgment; so upon the greater than Solomon shall the Spirit of the Lord rest, "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth." (Isa. 11:2-4.) And Zion shall then be in her beauty also. King Solomon made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as the sycamore-trees that are in the vale for abundance; but when the glory of Jehovah rises upon Zion, she shall shine in fulness of beauty — every land shall deck her forth — gold from Sheba, and incense, the treasures of Midian and Kedar, and the glory of Lebanon shall be there. "I will make the place of my feet glorious," says the King; "for brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver." (Isa. 60) And upon her citizens shall the blessing be again pronounced, "Happy is the people that is in such a case, yea, happy is that people whose God is Jehovah." (2 Chron. 7; Ps. 144:15.)
Such, and far beyond the range of our thoughts, will be the Kingly glory of our Beloved; but these features of it we gather from the typical times of David and Solomon, upon which we have been now meditating, and which we would now, in closing, thus further and distinctly present.
First, it is to be the kingdom of the Son — it is the Son, and not the servant, who is to establish and inherit it: as we have already seen, the house was built by Solomon, and not by David. It is therefore to have the value of the Son upon it and about it, and this is everything to us; for this is the character of its stability and joy. Its stability, because it is not to be committed to the fallibility and weakness of a servant, as we read, "The servant abideth not in the house for ever;" but it is to be set in the strength of the Son, and shall therefore abide for ever, for "the Son abides ever." This kingdom cannot therefore be moved: "the earth and the inhabitants thereof are dissolved," says Jesus the King, "I bear up the pillars thereof;" and in token of this stability, the pillars of Solomon's house were called Jachin and Boaz. And we have spoken of its joy, because the full and unspeakable delight of the Father in the Son shall rest on the kingdom that is His; and in token of this joy, the Lord said of the house that Solomon had finished, "Mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually." And what must the repose of the creation be when thus dwelling in the light of the Father's favour — when the complacency which He has in the Son of His love — is thus beaming and resting on everything? As the precious ointment on the head went down to the skirts of the garments, and the light that from between the cherubim gladdened the high priest on his entrance into the holy place, fell with equal lustre on the names of the twelve tribes which he bore upon his breastplate then.
But, secondly, throughout the kingdom there shall be a constant remembrance of "the man of sorrows;" as everything in the temple, the stones that fitly framed it together, the gold and the silver, the brass and the iron, all spake increasingly of David, for David in his trouble had prepared them all. (1 Chron. 2:14.) Psalm 132 is Solomon's pleading with Jehovah to arise into the rest which he had prepared for Him, and to fill it with glory and blessing, on the ground of his father's afflictions. "Lord, remember David and all his afflictions," says he; and upon this ground he prays, "Arise, O Lord, into thy rest, thou and the ark of thy strength; let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy; for thy servant David's sake, turn not away the face of thine Anointed." The afflictions of David were thus known amidst the glories of Solomon, and so the Lamb that was slain shall be in the midst of the throne. As our fallen earth bears upon it everywhere the trail of the serpent, so will the kingdom wear the traces of the blood of the Lamb, The tabernacle and all vessels of ministry were sprinkled with blood; and so the heaven and earth, the true tabernacle, or place of meeting, with all things that are therein, shall have the memorials of the crucified Jesus about them; for "blessing, and honour, and glory, and power unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb," shall be heard from the heaven, and the earth, and the sea together. (Rev. 5:12-13.)
And, lastly, the kingdom shall be the place of thanksgiving and praise, and God, even our own God, shall accept this worship, and rest in it as His honour for ever. As when the temple was finished, as we have already noticed, and the ark was in its place under the wings of the cherubim, and everything was in due order, "it came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever, then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God"* (2 Chron. 5:13-14), so in the kingdom shall all be displaced to make room for the glory, all be silenced but the ceaseless unwearying song of joy and praise. Praise is now too much checked and hushed by our own thoughts upon God and His ways, faith not being at all times ready to interpret His works aright. But then the whole scene will awaken praise, for nothing will be seen, nothing heard, that can of itself hinder praise; our own thoughts will he for ever silenced, and God, in the love of the Son, will be seen and heard all around, and everything shall therefore be then full of praise. And indeed this our faith should ever now anticipate; let faith displace our own thoughts, and we shall then, even now, be giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, and thus in spirit begin the praise in the joy of the kingdom. For praise from the heavens, and praise from the earth; praise by the angels in their hosts, and praise by the kings of the earth and all people; praise from the heaven of heavens, and praise from the mountains and hills, beasts and all cattle, shall gladden and surround Him whose name alone is excellent, and His saints who love Him, and His people who servo Him, shall be satisfied for ever and ever.
[*Very much the same exhibition of joy and glory had been in Israel on a previous occasion. (See Lev. 9) It was then made on the installation of the priest; it is now made at the inauguration of the king; and both occasions were equally appropriate to such exhibition. For Aaron, the priest, and Solomon, the king, do together set forth our royal Priest, our Melchisedec; and this joy and glory, which have been on these two solemn occasions typified, shall be known and displayed in all their truth and fulness when He appears, taking His seat as priest upon His throne.]