A white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True.
The rider on the white horse and the armies with Him
I. John saw our Captain, the King of kings.
1. Let us notice His glorious state. Our Lord is heredescribed as sitting upon a gallant steed, charging His foes upon a snow-white horse.
(1) This means that Christ is honoured now. In royal state our Jesus goeth forth to war, not as a common soldier, but as a glorious prince, royally mounted.
(2) By a horse is denoted not only honour, but power. To the Jews the employment of the horse in warfare was unusual, so that when it was used by their adversaries they imputed to it great force. Jesus Christ has a mighty power to-day, a power which none can measure.
(3) Here is symbolised swiftness, too. His word runneth very swiftly. The colour of the horse is also meant to denote victory. He comes to fight, but the fight is for peace; He comes as a conqueror, but it is as a delivering conqueror who scattereth flowers and roses where he rides, breaking only the oppressor, but blessing the citizens whom he emancipates.
2. John looked into the open vault of heaven, and he had time not only to see the horse, but to mark the character of Him that sat upon it. He says that He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. By this you may know your Lord.
3. John still looked, and as he gazed with open eye he marked the mode of action and of warfare which the champion employed, for he says, “In righteousness He doth judge and make war.” Jesus is the only king who always wars in this fashion.
4. One other thing John saw, and that was His name. But here he seems to contradict himself. He says that He had a name which no man knoweth, yet he says that His name war the Word of God. Oh, but it is all true, for in such a one as our Master there must beparadoxes. No man knoweth His name. None of you know all His nature. His love passes your knowledge; His goodness, His majesty, His humiliation, His glory, all these transcend your ken. You cannot know Him. Oh, the depths!
II. His followers.
1. Christ has a great following--not one army, but “armies,” whole hosts of them, numbers that cannot be counted.
2. These that follow Him, you notice, are all mounted. They followed Him on white horses. They are mounted on the same sort of horses as Himself, for they fare as He fares: when He walks, they must walk; when He bears a cross, they must carry crosses too; but if ever He gets a crown, He cries, “They shall be crowned too.”
3. The armies of Christ followed Him on white horses. Look steadily at these white horses, and observe the armour of their riders. Cromwell’s men wore at their side long iron scabbards in which they carried swords, which oftentimes they wiped across the manes of their horses when they were red with blood.But if you look at these troops there is not a sword amongst them. They are not armed with lance or pike, and yet they areriding forth to war. Do you want to know the armour of that war? I will tell you. They are clothed in white linen, white and clean. Strange battle array this! And yet this is how they conquer, and how you must conquer too. This is both armour and weapon. Holiness is our sword and our shield.
4. Yet I have said they were all on horses, which shows you that the saints of God have a strength that they sometimes forget. You know not that you ride on a horse, O child of God; but there is a supreme invisible power which helps you in contending for Christ and for His truth. You are mightier than you know of, and you are riding more swiftly to the battle and more rapidly over the heads of your foes than ever you dream.
III. The warfare. What is this warfare? There cannot be war without a sword, yet if you look all along the ranks o” the white-robed armies there is not a sword amongst them all. Who carries the sword? There is one who bears it for them all. It is He, the King, who comes to marshal us. He bears a sword.But where? It is in His mouth! Yet this is the only sword my Lord and Muster wields. Mahomet subdued men with the scimitar, but Christ subdues men with the gospel. We have but to tell out the glad tidings of the love of God, for this is the sword of Christ with which He smites the nations. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
On His head were many crowns.
The Saviour’s many crowns
I. First, let every believing heart rejoice while it sees the many crowns of dominion upon His head. First and foremost there sparkles about His brow the everlasting diadem of the King of Heaven. His empire is higher than the highest heaven, and deeper than the lowest hell. This earth also is a province of His wide domains. Though small the empire compared with others, yet from this world hath He perhaps derived more glory than from any other part of His dominions. He reigns on earth. On His head is the crown of creation. “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” His voice said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. It was His strength that piled the mountains, and His wisdom balances the clouds. Together with this crown of creation there is yet another, the crown of providence, for He sustaineth all things by the word of His power. Let Him once withdraw His hands, and the pillars of earth must tremble; the stars must fall like fig leaves from the tree, and all things must be quenched in the blackness of annihilation. On His head is the crown of providence. And next to this there glitters also the thrice-glorious crown of grace. He is the King of grace; He gives, or He withholds. The river of God’s mercy flows from underneath His throne; He sits as Sovereign in the dispensation of mercy. He reigneth in His Church amidst willing spirits; and He reigns for His Church over all the nations of the world, that he may gather unto Himself a people that no man can number who shall bow before the sceptre of His love. Methinks I hear one say, “If this be so, if Christ hath these many crowns of dominion, how vain it is for me to rebel against Him.”Believer, look to Christ’s thrice-crowned head and be comforted. Is providence against thee? Correct thy speech; thou hast erred; God hath not become thine enemy. Providence is not against thee, for Jesus is its King; He weighs its trials and counts its storms. Thy enemies may strive, but they shall not prevail against thee; He shall smite them upon the cheek-bone. Art thou passing through the fire? The fire is Christ’s dominion. Art thou going through the floods? They shall not drown thee, for even the floods obey the voice of the Omnipotent Messiah. Wherever thou art called thou canst not go where Jesu’s love reigns not. Commit thyself into His hands.
II. Christ hath many crowns of victory. The first diadems which I have mentioned are His by right. He is God’s only begotten and well-beloved Son, and hence He inherits unlimited dominions. But viewed as theSon of Man, conquest has made Him great, and His own right hand and His holy arm have won for Him the triumph. In the first place, Christ has a crown which I pray that every one of you may wear. He has a crown of victory over the world. For thus saith He Himself, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” I would that we could imitate Christ in our battle with the world. But alas, the world oftentimes gets the upper hand of us. Sometimes we yield to its smiles, and often do we tremble before its frowns. Have hope and courage, believer; be like your Master, be the world’s foe and overcome it, yield not, suffer it never to entrap your watchful feet. Stand upright amid all its pressure, and be not moved by all its enchantments. Christ did this, and therefore around His head is that right royal crown of victory, trophy of triumph over the entire forces of the world. Furthermore, the next crown He wears is the crown by which He has overcome sin. He has cast down every shape and form of evil, and now for ever stands He more than a conqueror through His glorious sufferings. Oh, how bright that crown which He deserves who hath for ever put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And then again, Christ wears about His head the crown of death. He died, and in that dreadful hour He overcame death, rifled the sepulchre, hewed death in pieces, and destroyed the arch-destroyer. Glorious is that victory! Angels repeat the triumphant strain, His redeemed take up the song; and you, ye blood-bought sons of Adam, praise Him too, for He hath overcome all the evil of hell itself. And yet, once again, another crown hath Christ, and that is the crown of victory over man. Would to God that He wore a crown for each of you. Say, has His love been toomuch for you? Have you been compelled to give up your sins, wooed by His love Divine? Have your eyes been made to run with tears at the thought of His affection for you and of your own ingratitude? If this be the case with you, then youmay yourself recognise one of the many crowns that are on His head.
III. The crowns of thanksgiving. Surely concerning these we may well say, “On His head are many crowns.” In the first place, all the mighty doers in Christ’s Church ascribe their crown to Him. Not a martyr wears his crown; they all take their blood-red crowns, and then they place them on His brow--the fire crown, the rack crown, there I see them all glitter. For it was His love that helped them to endure; it was by His blood that they overcame. And then think of another list of crowns. They who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever. What crowns shall theirs be when they come before God, when the souls they have saved shall enter paradise with them. What shouts of acclamation, what honours, what rewards shall then be given to the winners of souls! What will they do with their crowns? Why, they will take them from their heads and lay them there where sits the Lamb in the midst of the throne. But see, another host approaches. I see a company of cherubic spirits flying upwards to Christ, and who are these? The reply is, “We lived on earth for sixty, or seventy, or eighty years, until we tottered into our graves from very weakness; when we died there was no marrow in our bones, our hair had grown grey, and we were crisp and dry with age.” “How came ye here?” They reply, “After many years of strife with the world, of trials and of troubles, we entered heaven at last. And ye have crowns, I see.” “Yes,” they say, “but we intend not to wear them.” “Whither are ye going, then?” “We are going to yonder throne, for our crowns have been surely given us by grace, for nothing but grace could have helped us to weather the storm so many, many years.” I see the grave and reverend sires pass one by one before the throne, and there they lay their crowns at His blessed feet, and then, shouting with the infant throng, they cry, “Salvation unto Him,” etc. And then I see following behind them another class. And who are ye? Their answer is, “We are the chief of sinners saved by grace.” And here they come--Saul of Tarsus, and Manasseh, and Rahab, and many of the same class. And how came ye here? They reply, “We have had much forgiven, we were grievous sinners, but the love of Christ reclaimed us, the blood of Christ washed us; and whiter than snow are we, though once we were black as hell.” And whither are ye going? They reply, “We are going to cast our crowns at His feet, and ‘Crown Him Lord of all.’” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Many crowns
I. On His head is the crown of conquest of sin. This is the victory.
II. On His head is the crown of the conquest of sorrow. That reigned supreme.
III. On His head is the crown of the conquest of suffering.
IV. On His head is the crown of the conquest of Satan. No light conquest!
V. On His head is the crown of the conquest of death. (W. M. Statham, M. A.)
The royalty of the glorified Redeemer
I. The glory of the great Redeemer.
1. His essential majesty.
2. The grandeur and the equal diversity of His peculiar functions. There is no work so glorious, no prerogative so high, that it is not specifically ascribed to Him in the pages of inspiration.
3. The greatness of those obstacles He is represented to have overcome in the fulfilment of His exalted undertakings.
4. The completeness of His victories in themselves.
5. His resulting satisfaction and the fulness of His joy.
6. The same almighty power which displayed itself so illustriously in His personal conquests was, even in the earliest age, exhibited in the progress of His cause, and the preservation of His followers, in spite of the most aggravated injuries and most threatening dangers.
7. We must now turn, somewhat mere directly, to the spiritual consequences of redemption, whence the real value of that recompense the Saviour has attained for all His privations, humiliation, and sorrow. They are of every kind. His victories are thoseof pity and of wrath, of indignation and of tenderness, of insulted majesty avenging its own wrongs, and of mercy rejoicing against justice. They spread over every department of the Divine administration, extend to every diversity of power which menaces, or of impurity which would pollute, or of sorrow which would darken and afflict, diffusing their happy consequences through an unlimited territory and a never-ending duration.
II. Those obvious practical reflections the subject so forcibly suggests.
1. Let its contemplation teach us the sentiments we should habitually cherish respecting the power and glory of the Saviour.
2. Let us cultivate those associations which belong to His supremacy, for we cannot too highly exalt Him. Let us see, in all that is fair and good amidst the scenes that encompass us, the skill of His workmanship--the beauty of His image. Let the convulsions of empire and the vicissitudes of time instruct us to confide in that eternal presidency over the affairs of men, by which the ends of His redemption shall be finally secured. (R. S. McAll, LL. D.)
The supreme kingship of Christ
The supreme kingship of Jesus Christ as Mediator is manifestly the theme of our text. The ruling principle in the mediatorial empire is benevolence. The final purpose o! the mediatorial empire is the highest possible good of man. This Jesus is able to accomplish by reason of His infinite attributes of wisdom and of power.
I. Let us look, then, at the material universe. There are many kings in matter. The sun is the king of day; the moon is the queen of night. The planet, with its attendant satellites, exercises a kingly rule over them. Gravitation, subtle and invisible, yet permeating all things, and influencing all things in sea, air, and land, exercises a kind of kingly rule over everything within the range of its influence. Just as the British Empire has its colonies and dependencies in Africa, Australia, and America; each possessing its own governor and its own mode of government; each independent in its place, yet dependent upon the parent power; each supreme in its own locality, subject nevertheless to the higher supremacy of the Queen: sois it in this material creation. It is divided into miniature kingdoms, petty empires, and in each kingdom there is a king. Look at the bee-hive. There is congregated under that straw cone an empire. All the elements of a kingdom are found there. A queen rules within. Authority and subjection, rule and submission may be found under that covering. The same thing is true of the ant-hill. The naturalist assures us that order and harmony prevail in what appears to us confused chaos. There a kingly rule is recognised, submission to supreme authority is observed, and in these you have the elements of an empire. Lifting your eyes from the earth around you to the heaven above you, we are told that those heavens are divided into districts and groups of worlds, that in each group there is one system exercising a kingly rule over the rest. Far above all these petty kingdoms and minute empires is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He moulded every atom. He brightened every star. He fashioned every system. He appointed to each its boundary. He created all forces and originated all laws. From Him all things proceed. To Him all things tend. For Him all things exist. And around Him all things revolve. He is King of kings and Lord of lords in the material world. The disciples of a sceptical science have endeavoured to extort from nature evidence against her King. The geologist has dived into the depths of the earth, hoping to discover some strange hieroglyphics on the rocks of nature which would bear testimony against the King of nature. The astronomer has soared into heaven, and tried to get the very stars in their courses to fight against Him who made them. In fact, nature has been twisted and torn and disembowelled in order to obtain evidence against her Lord. Faithful to her mission, she moves on for the accomplishment of the great purposes for which her King has made her; so that, whether by her regular movement, or the occasional suspension of her laws, as in the case of miracles, she asserts the kingship of her Lord, and proves her obedience toher Master. This world materially considered is eminently fitted for Christ as Mediator. We can only conceive of three kinds of worlds. One in which there shall be nothing but purity, and consequently nothing but happiness; such is heaven. The second, a world in which there shall be nothing but sin, and consequently nothing but misery; such is hell. The third, a world in which there shall be an admixture of the two, good and evil, right and wrong; such is the world we occupy. This world, take it geologically, is not fitted for anything else than a mediatorial world. It is not fitted, as to its material construction, to be a heaven, a world of unsullied purity, and, consequently, a world of unmixed happiness. Lightnings and storms ruthlessly pursue their destructive and desolating course; the volcano belches forth its destructive lava, which carries desolation to cities and villages and fruitful plains. These things could not exist in a world of unsullied happiness and purity. We find the elements of ruin and destruction in the very material of which the world is constructed, and it is not fitted on that account to be a heaven. It is not fitted, on the other hand, to be a world of retribution and of unmixed evil. The sun shines here. The valleys smile with luxuriance here. Thrilling sensations of pleasure are experienced here. Scenes of loveliness spread themselves before the vision here. There is no sunshine in hell; no beauteous scenes are there; no sweet harmony there: but they do exist here. Why have we this admixture of destructive and benevolent forces stored up in the secret places of nature? These elements are necessary in order that the earth may be a fitting theatre for Jesus Christ to carry out His mediatorial purposes. He must have elements to appeal to man’s fears, and He finds them in the destructive forces of nature. He must have elements to appeal to man’s hopes, and He finds them in the benevolent forces of nature. The component parts of earth were adjusted, put together, with a view to redeeming purposes. All the elements of nature, all its laws, and all its forces have been made for Christ as Mediator, and are placed under His immediate control. He is King of kings and Lord of lords in the material world.
II. In the mental world Jesus Christ is King of kings. Earth has her crowned kings, monarchs surrounded with symbols of royalty; the crown, the sceptre, and the throne. The extent of their dominions varies, as does also the amount of power they wield. Some are despotic, arbitrary, and absolute; others are mild and paternal in their rule. Some are the mere tools of parties, and retain nothing akin to kingship but the symbol. While some of them happily and trustfully acknowledge the supremacy of Christ, there are others who recognise no authority higher than their own, and no power superior to their own. Nations are organised and held together, scattered or established on the one principle of subserviency to the empire of Christ. The ruling powers of earth exist for Him. Willingly or unwillingly they are His servants. Consciously or unconsciously they are carrying out His purposes. When they cease to be His instruments He often removes them, and brings others in their place. “By Me princes rule,” “By Me kings reign and princes decree justice.” Sceptics sneeringly say, “Your Christianity has been in the world for eighteen hundred years, and this surely is time enough for it to subdue the world. The fact that it has failed to meet with universal acceptance throughout all the ages is proof enough that it is not the Divine religion youprofess it to be.” Our reply is, God feels no hurry. When man strongly desires to accomplish an object he often exercises haste. He is liable to so many contingencies. Unforeseen circumstances may arise to check his progress and to defeat his purpose. But God exercises no haste, nor doubts the issue. Eternity is before Him; endless ages are waiting for Him. But there are also uncrowned kings--men who never wore a crown, perhaps never saw one; but who, nevertheless, are the true kings of society, who possess minds of kingly proportions and imperial mould, who influence and move and control minds inferior to their own. There have been the founders of false religions, the originators of errors, like Buddha, Mahomet, Sabellius, Arius; and nearer our own times men like Tom Paine, Voltaire, Gibbon, Hume; and men of our own day like Strauss and Renan. These men possess kingly intellects, and wield a kingly power over many other intellects. They have set themselves up against the kingly rule of Christ. They have inspired millions with their errors. The battle they have waged with the King of Truth is fierce and desperate. It has been going on for ages. But this we know, Jesus is unchanging and immortal. His enemies in succession die and pass away, but He never dies. Let the kings of the earth, crowned and uncrowned, social rulers and mental rulers, set themselves against God’s anointed; let them join in an unhallowed conspiracy, and associate with them the whole mass of infernal powers, and rise up in rebellion against the kingly rule of Christ, all that they can do is but the menace of a puny worm against One whose frown is perdition. “The Lamb shall overcome them.” A reverent universe will then bow at the feet of His victorious Majesty, and creation shall become vocal with the song, “The kingdoms of this world” have “become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever.”
III. Jesus Christ is supreme in the moral world. Men are everywhere actuated by principles, passions, purposes, motives existing within them. These inward forces are in possession of the mastery; they exercise kingship. In the language of the Scriptures, they reign, they have dominion. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.” The lust of power, the lust of money, the lust of pleasure, the lust of pride, the lust of envy, are the imperial powers which control men, bringing them into vile and degrading bondage, and hurrying them into wrong doing. Evil, when thus dominant, exercises a crushing sway over its victim. Some of you have been conscious of this. Some base passion has mastered you. And after a short conflict you had to beat a retreat and own yourself again mastered. But why? Because you faced the foe in your strength. Sin has but one master, one king, the Lord Jesus Christ. He destroys the works of the devil, and it is through Him strengthening you that you can be made victorious. However mighty evil may be when enthroned in the human heart, Jesus is mightier far. He is stronger than the strong man armed. Christ while yet on earth confronted and mastered moral evil under a variety of forms and circumstances. Look at Him against the grave of Lazarus. He saw in that grave evidence of the triumph of moral evil--a proof that sin had obtained kingship over human life, and reversed the destiny of man from life to death. His tears were shed over sin and its sad results as witnessed in that sepulchre. His contest was not with death but with moral evil. But there are moral laws as well as moral forces in the world. We will just mention one or two as an illustration. One law is this: that hardness is the inevitable result of resistance. Just as the anvil becomes hardened by every stroke of the hammer, the heart of man is hardened by every resistance it offers to the Divine Word and Divine Spirit. This is not an arrangement. It is a law in God’s moral empire, and this law explains to me what otherwise seems to be paradoxical in the history of Pharaoh. The penalty of hardness was inflicted by God, that is, by an inevitable law which He appointed; and in this sense it may be said that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. But, on the other hand, Pharaoh did the wrong, the penalty of which is hardness. God neither compelled nor disposed him to resist. God is responsible for the law which inflicts hardness as the penalty of resistance; but Pharaoh alone is responsible for setting that law at defiance, and thereby incurring the penalty of hardness. Another great law in the mediatorial government of Jesus is that sin is its own punishment. Where there is wrong-doing there must be suffering. That is God’s law. And so we understand the declaration, “Tophet is ordained of old; the breath of the Lord doth kindle it.” God affixed suffering as the penalty of wrong-doing. But the wrong-doer alone is responsible for bringing himself under the dominion of that law. God has made it a law that fire should burn. If I foolishly thrust my hand into the flame I become a sufferer under the dominion of that law. God is responsible for the law: but who is responsible for my suffering? Certainly not God, but myself alone. Why does not retribution fall at once on transgressors? It is because the Mediator reigns. He is above law, superior to law. He restrains the action of the law of retribution. He holds back the penalty. But what right has Jesus Christ to interfere with the law and to delay retribution? This right is not based on His absolute sovereignty, but on His atonement. The kingly title of the Lord Jesus is written on His vesture. What kind of a vesture is it? It is nota kingly robe, but a priestly one. He is clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. His kingship is based on sacrifice. But this restraint will only be exercised for a time. Probation being over, the impenitent will be given up to the law of retribution.
IV. In the spiritual universe Jesus Christ is supreme. There is not a portion of the universe where His sway is not felt and confessed. There is not a locality abandoned. That dominion extends to the place of banishment, the abode of the lost. Kings many dwell in hell. Princely titles are given to them. They are designated “principalities” and “powers,” “spiritual wickedness.” They are masters in evil, but they are in chains. Jesus, while yet on earth, confronted some of these spiritual rulers, and proved His kingship over them by mastering them. His dominion extends also to heaven, the abode of the holy. Good spirits are subject toHis kingship. “The armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean” (verse 14). These constitute His retinue, accompanying Him in His march of conquest, sharing His toils, sympathising with His purposes, and aiding His triumphs. With outspread wings they are ever waiting His behests; ever ready to execute His purpose, whether of judgment or of mercy. His will is their rule, His word their law. What a pledge have we of the final triumph of truth! If Jesus is the King of all beings, all forces, all laws; if all power is given Him in heaven, earth, and hell; if He regulates and overrules all events, we need have no doubt of the issue. From the beginning He keeps one end steadily in view, the subjugation of moral evil, the destruction of the works of the devil. We have spoken to you of the kingship based on atonement, but we would remind you of the kingship based on power. The title is written not only on the priestly vesture, but also on His thigh. But why upon the thigh? The thigh is a symbol of power. It is the strongest place in a man. It is the place where the muscles congregate. The angel of the covenant touched Jacob on the thigh, and sent him limping all the way through life, to humble him, and to remind him how weak he was even in his strongest place when God touched him. Hence the kingship of Jesus is written on His thigh. Men who will not yield willing submission to His authority and the claims of His love shall be made to yield unwilling submission to His retributive justice. If the milder aspects of His kingly character fail to subdue them, He must turn upon them the sterner aspects of that character. If the kingship of the vesture fail to subdue you He must turn upon you the kingship of the thigh. If the revelation of His mercy and love fail to allure you, He must by a revelation of power break what refused to bend. We all must be the subjects of either the kingship of the vesture or the kingship of the thigh. (Richard Roberts.)
The crowned Christ
1. Christ’s perfect physical health and bodily beauty is a crown that attracts us. We read of His fatigue, hunger, and lack of sleep; but nowhere of inability to sleep, or of disgust of food, or of any physical infirmities.
2. There is the crown of intellectual wisdom. Not that, indeed, of scholastic and rabbinic lore; but there was marvellous maturity of mind, a balance of faculties, a felicity, aptness, and proportion about His mental development.
3. The crown of moral perfection rests on thehead of Christ.
4. Divine love. When on earth there was in Christ this element which drew men to Him.
5. The crown of suffering.
6. Power to save. This is operative here and now as well as in the future life. (A. J. Lyman, D. D.)
Many crowns--Christ as King
I. To understand this passage we must compare it with a very similar passage in chap. 6., where is described the beginning of a conflict which is here drawing to a victorious end. There the Rider on the white horse, going forth conquering and to conquer, is followed by riders on red and black and pale horses--powers which were to destroy, hunt, kill. Here these riders have vanished. Now, “the armies that were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.” There “a crown” was given to Him. Here He has “many crowns,” or rather diadems, upon His head. The same crown is still worn, but now it is glorified by many circlets, which have been added to it one by one. Each has been a diadem or crown of victory; each represents a new conquest over the powers of evil
III. Notice that the crown itself is the King’s by gift (chap. 6:2). This crown was given to Jesus at His Incarnation, when He came forth out of the heavenly places, conquering and to conquer. He had, indeed, before that day a crown which was His own by right and by inheritance. But that crown He laid aside. With infinite condescension He emptied Himself of all that glory (Php_2:6-8). Then He accepted this crown as a gift. Being already King of the angels, King of the universe, He now stooped to become King of humanity. But this world, to which He thus came to be its King, was a scene of rebellion. He had to win His sovereignty, to vindicate and prove His title. Opposition had to be crushed, mighty foes to be vanquished. Each of His achievements wins for Him another circlet in that golden crown. The glory at the end will be infinite, even as His humiliation was infinite.
III. There is an old reading which makes the text run thus: “On His head were many crowns having names written,” as though each circlet contained its own description. Well do we know the single words which would glitter on some of the brightest of the diadems--Suffered; crucified; dead; buried; descended into hell! Each of them sounds indeed, like a defeat, and yet each is, we know, a stupendous victory. Then will follow those two in which His triumph is openly displayed--He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, etc.
IV. The tale is not yet completed. More circlets have yet to be added. The things which Jesus began to do and to teach up to the day when He was taken up, He left His Church to go on doing and teaching till the end of time. Not until all the kingdoms of this world havebecome the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ will the crown of Jesus be complete, and the many diadems have reached their full number. Lessons:
1. The duty of loyalty to our King.
2. Personal devotion to our King.
3. Each should do something for the spread of His kingdom.
(1) We ought to do it,because He is our King and the nations belong to Him of right.
(2) We shall be anxious to do it, in proportion as we realise the beauty of His character. (R. H. Parr, M. A.)
Christ’s kingly authority
I. Christ, in His mediatorial character, has a crown of supreme dignity.
II. Christ, as Mediator, has a crown of victory.
III. Jesus, as Mediator, has a crown of sovereign power. Unto Him is given all power in heaven and upon earth: as far as the bounds of creation reach, so far does His dominion reach.
IV. Christ, as Mediator, has a crown of sovereign right. He has not only the power to compel, but the right to demand the obedience of every creature; and it is the great distinction between those who are and those who are not His people, that while all the creatures of God, whether willingly or unwillingly, must execute Christ’s pleasure, those who are indeed His submit joyfully and heartily to His rule, and keep themselves ready to do or suffer whatever He requires of them, simply because He requires it.
V. Jesus, as Mediator, has a crown of judicial authority: “The Father Himself judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son,” etc. (Wm. Ramsay.)
The many crowns
I. It is most probable that special attention is hereby meant to be drawn: first, to that multiplicity of characters in which our Lord is set forth. Those words which we so glibly utter--Mediator, Advocate, Saviour, Redeemer, Intercessor--are not different words torepresent the same thing. Every one has its own true and proper signification; every one gathers up into itself, and expresses a distinct and independent part of tits work for man. But, further than this, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only Being who possesses more than one Nature. These varied offices spring out of this further truth. They are the branches which grow out of the doctrine that He is at once the Root and Offspring of David, being both God and Man.
II. But there is a further interpretation to be given of the mystic crowns. It is a remarkable prophecy of Isaiah when addressing the spiritual Zion, that is, the Christian Church, “Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord,” making the diadem of Christ to be the company of His elect. So also St. Paul writes (Php_4:1; 1Th_2:19). The idea in all these passages is the same, that the disciples are the crown of the teacher. And, transferring this to our Blessed Lord, we get another, and perhaps the most blessed signification of the text, even this--that the crowning of the Redeemer, and His highest glory within the Heaven of Heavens, are the Churches which have been gathered unto Him, and the souls which have been saved through Him. Let us pause upon this thought in connection with the Mission work of the Church. Why should we take an interest in it? Why, with confessedly great calls upon us at home, must we contribute money and send men to labour beyond the sea? Now observe, first, that if there were no visible results to encourage us, we should still be bound to “preach the gospel to every creature.” The Church forgets one main purpose of its existence if it forgets this. But observe, secondly, that God does seem to have vouchsafed us a measure of success, at least, in proportion to ourexertions and the short time during which the work has been carried on. And whilst there is a great dearth of men abroad, is there not also a great dearth of prayer at home? (Bp. Woodford.)
The crowns of Christ
[See Mat_27:29.] Contrasts often powerfully reveal truth. But never did the universe present a contrast so striking as that suggested by our texts. Yonder in Jerusalem is a despised Nazarene, forsaken by His friends, hated, mocked, scourged, crowned with thorns! Yonder in heaven is the same Being, gloriously apparelled, crowns of victory on His head, worshipped by myriads of radiant spirits as “King of kings,” etc.
I. The crown of thorns symbolised Christ’s submission to sin; the crowns of glory His triumph over sin. The world has often looked upon this most unnatural sight, this reversal of the true, Divinely-appointed order of things--the evil triumphing over the good. The Son of Heaven’s King is crowned with thorns and crucified; who will keep His laws or care for His sceptre now? The sharp thorns which pierced Him have healed many a wounded heart. His death has been a spring of life to the world. His shame has won immortal glory for countless redeemed souls.
II. The crown of thorns shadowed forth Christ’s love to men; the crowns of glory men’s love to Him.
III. The crown of thorns showed that Christ’s kingdom is limited in its instruments; thecrowns of glory that it is universal in its extent. The excited multitude would have made Jesus a King, and placed earthly weapons, soldiers, etc., at His disposal; but He thrust all these aside. He wore a “crown of thorns” to show that He was a King ruling not by force, but by influence, not by material instruments, civil power, etc., but by spiritual weapons, love, truth, etc. Universal dominion has been the dream of proud conquerors, Alexander, Napoleon; but they have traced their empires on shifting sands, to be obliterated by the next storm blast. But man’s dream is God’s sober truth.
IV. The crown of thorns unfolded the transitoriness of Christ’s sufferings--the crowns of glory the eternity of His joy. Thorns! Perishable in their very nature. The “many crowns” point to the everlasting joys which thrill the Redeemer’s heart. His happiness is as permanent as His sovereignty. (T. W. Mays, M. A.)
The Redeemer’s crowns
To our Lord Jesus Christ belongs the crown of--
1. Royal descent.
2. Victory.
3. Empire.
4. Priesthood.
5. Every excellence.
6. Eternal glory. (Preacher’s Portfolio.)
Christ and His crowns
I. The regalcrown.
1. The crown of universal proprietorship belongs to Christ.
2. The crown of universal dominion belongs to Christ.
II. The victor’s crown. The Redeemer proved Himself a conqueror in three respects: by His life, by His death, and by His resurrection.
1. He won the crown of unspotted obedience.
2. He won the crown of immortality.
3. He won the crown of championship over the grave.
III. The bridegroom’s crown. The Church is to be presented “as a chaste virgin” to Christ. Then “He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.” Then shall another crown be added--the crown of universal adoration and gratitude. (The Study.)
The dignities of Christ
I. These dignities are of priceless value. What on earth does man regard as more valuable than a “crown”? But what are all the crowns of the world to the diadems that encircle the being of Christ?
II. These dignities are manifold. There is the dignity of an all-knowing intellect; of an immaculate conscience; of an absolutely unselfish love; of a will free from all the warping influences of sin, error, and prejudice.
III. These dignities are self-produced. All His dignities are but the brilliant evolutions of His own great soul.
IV. These dignities are imperishable. How soon the “crowns” worn by men grow dim and rot into dust! But Christ’s diadems are incorruptible; they will sparkle on for ever, and fill all the heavens of immensity with their brilliant lustre. (Homilist.)
The Saviour crowned
I. Whence it is that these honours accumulate upon Him.
1. From the essential dignity of His nature.
2. From the offices He sustains in the economy of salvation.
3. From the exploits He has won and the conquests He has achieved.
II. By what means we may contribute to multiply the honours of the Saviour’s name.
1. By our personal submission to His spiritual empire. We must all take side.
2. By consecrating an individual interest to His cause.
3. By taking part in the great institutions of the times in which we live. (M. Braithwaite.)
He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood.--
The war in heaven
Who, then, is the being whom St. John sees in the spiritual world appearing eternally as a warrior, with his garments stained with blood, the leader of armies smiting the nations, ruling them with a rod of iron? St. John tells us that He has one name which none knew save Himself. But He tells us that He has another name which St. John did know; and that it is “the Word of God”; and He tells us, moreover, that He is called Faithful and True. And who He is all Christian men arebound to know. He it is who makes perpetual war, as King of kings and Lord of lords. He Himself is full of chivalry, full of fidelity; and, therefore, all which is base and treacherous is hateful in His eyes, and that which He hates He is both able and willing to destroy. He it is who makes perpetual war. He makes war in righteousness. Therefore, all men and things which are unrighteous and unjust areon the opposite side to Him, His enemies, and He will trample them under His feet. But the meek and gentle Jesus? That the Lord was meek and gentle when on earth, and is, therefore, meek and gentle in heaven, from all eternities to all eternities, there can be no doubt. But with that meekness and lowliness there was in Him on earth, and, therefore, there is in Him in heaven, a capacity of burning indignation against all wrong and falsehood, especially against that worst form of falsehood, hypocrisy; and that worst form of hypocrisy, covetousness, cloaking itself under the name of religion. For that He had no meek and gentle words; but, Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers I How shall ye escape the damnation of Gehenna? And because His character is perfect and eternal--because He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever--therefore we are bound to believe that He has now, and will have as long as evil exists, the same Divine indignation, the same Divine determination to cast out of His kingdom--which is simply the whole universe--all that offends, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. The wisest of living Britons has said: “Infinite pity, yet infinite rigour of law. It is so that the universe is made.” I should add: It is so that the universe must needs be made, because it is made by Christ, and its laws are the reflection of His character--pitiful because Christ is pitiful; rigorous because Christ is rigorous. So pitiful is Christ that He did not hesitate to be slain for men, that mankind through Him might be saved. So rigorous is Christ that He does not hesitate to slay men, if needful, that mankind by them may be saved. I know but too well that most people find it very difficult, always have in every age and country found it most difficult to believe in such a God as Scripture sets forth--a God of boundless tenderness, and yet a God of boundless indignation. Men’s notion of tenderness is too often a selfish dislike of seeing other people uncomfortable, because it makes them uncomfortable themselves. They hate and dread honest severity and stern exercise of lawful power; till it has been bitterly but truly said that public opinion will allow a man to do anything except his duty. Now this is a humour which cannot last. It breeds weakness, anarchy, and, at last, ruin to society. And then the effeminate and luxurious, terrified for their money and their comfort, fly from an unwholesome tenderness to an unwholesome indignation; and, in a panic of selfish fury, become--as cowards are too apt to do--blindly and wantonly cruel, and those who fancied God too indulgent to punish His enemies are the first and the fiercest to punish their own. “Christian,” says a great genius and a great divine--
“Ifthouwouldstlearntolove,
Thoufirstmustlearntohate.”
And, if any answer:Hate? even God hateth nothing that He hath made; then the rejoinder is: And for that very reason He hates evil, because He has not made it, and it is ruinous to all that He has made. Let every man go and do likewise. Let him hate what is wrong with all his heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, for so only will he love God with all his heart, and mind, and soul, and strength. Let him say, day by day--aye, almost hour by hour--“Strengthen me, O Lord, to hate what Thou hatest and to love what Thou lovest”; that so when that dread day shall come, when every man shall receive the reward of the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or whether they be evil, he may have some decent answer to give to the awful question: “On whose side hast thou been in the battle of life? On the side of God and all good beings, or on the side of all bad spirits and bad men?” (C. Kingsley, M. A.)
The grand review
When my text, in figure, represents the armies of the glorified as riding upon white horses, it sets forth the strength, the fleetness, the victory, and the innocence of the redeemed. The horse has always been an emblem of strength. When startled by sudden sight or sound, how he plunges along the highway! The hand of the strong driver on the reins is like the grasp of a child.
1. Therefore, when the redeemed are represented asriding on white horses, their strength is set forth. The days of their invalidism and decrepitude are past. O the day when, having put off the last physical impediment, you shall come to the mightiness of heavenly vigour! There will be hardly anything you cannot lift, or crush, or conquer.
2. The horse used in the text is also the emblem of fleetness. The wild horses on the plain, at the appearance of the hunter, make the miles slip under them, as with a snort they bound away, and the dust rises in whirlwinds from their flying feet, until, far away, they halt with their faces to their pursuer, and neigh in gladness at their escape. More swift than they shall be the redeemed in heaven. O the exhilaration of feeling that you can take worlds at a bound, vast distances instantly overcome--no difference between here and there!
3. The horse in the text is also a symbol of victory. He was not used on ordinary occasions; but the conqueror mounted him, and rode on among the acclamations of the rejoicing multitude. So all the redeemed of heaven arevictors. Yea, they are more than conquerors through Him that hath loved them. My text places us on one of the many avenues of the Celestial City. The soldiers of God have come up from earthly battle, and are on the parade. We shall not have time to see all the great hosts of the redeemed; but John, in my text, points out a few of the battalions: “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses.” Now, come on the battalions of the saved. Here passes the regiment of Christian martyrs. They endured all things for Christ. They were hounded; they were sawn asunder; they were hurled out of life. Here comes up another host of the redeemed: the regiment of Christian philanthropists. They went down into the battle-fields to take care of the wounded; they plunged into the damp and moulded prisons, and pleaded before God and human governors in behalf of the incarcerated; they preached Christ among the besotten populations of the city; they carried Bibles and bread into the garrets of pain: but in the sweet river of death they washed off the filth and the loathsomeness of those to whom they had administered. There is John Howard, who circumnavigated the globe in the name of Him who said: “I was sick, and ye visited Me.” Here goes Elliott, who once toiled for Christ among savages, saying to them: “I am about the work of the great God. Touch me if you dare!” Here comes a great column of the Christian poor. They always walked on earth. The only ride they ever had was in the hearse that took them to the Potter’s Field. They went day by day poorly clad, and meanly fed, and insufficiently sheltered. But a shining retinue was waiting beyond the river for their departing spirits, and as they passed a celestial escort confronted them, and snow-white chargers of heaven are brought in, and the conquerors mounted; and here they pass in the throng of the victors--poor-house exchanged for palace, rags for imperial attire, weary walking for seats on the white horses from the King’s stable. Ride on, ye victors! Another retinue: that of the Christian invalids. These who pass now languished for many a year on their couches. But I cannot count the interminable troops of God as they pass, the redeemed of all ages, and lands, and conditions. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
His name is called the Word of God.--
The victory of the Word of God
“The Word of God.” What is it? where is it? is it at all? Has God spoken? If so, how has He spoken, and what is the word He has spoken?
I. What is a word? A word may be broadly defined as that which expresses thought. Now, thought is expressed to some extent by language, but only to some extent. It is also expressed by action. Action, therefore, is a word. Conduct is a word. Everything that man has made or done is a word, because it expresses thought, and expresses it sometimes much more effectively than any spoken or written language can. The artist can best express his thought by a picture; the sculptor, by a statue; the musician, by his music. Action is a word. Everything that man has done or made is a word, because it expresses thought. The houses we build, the factories, the ships, the churches, the clothes we wear, the movements we make, everything that man has made or done, from the easiest and simplest and most trifling thing up to the hardest and most complex--it all stands for thought, is the expression of thought, is resolvable back into thought--the word, the embodiment, the manifestation of thought. In the Book of Genesis it is said that God speaks it into existence. God said, “Let there be light.” Light is His word, the expression of His thought, and He speaks it. And God said, “Let the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the dry land, and living creatures appear”; the sun, the stars, the living creatures--these are His words, the expression of His thought, and therefore it is said, Ha speaks them into existence. Is there any other word that God has spoken? Is there any other expression of His thought? In making up the inventory of the contents of the universe, we must not leave humanity out of the reckoning; and if the sun, the stars, the great globe itself, be the expression of thought, and constitute the word of the infinite God, must not human nature also be regarded as the word of the infinite God? Yes, man is God’s word as well as physical nature, expressing the thought of God. But that statement must be guarded, must be qualified. For nowhere in our ordinary life do we see what man is, and therefore cannot know from the study of the ordinary man what God is. We see much that is good and noblein the history of man, and we also see many things that are base and ignoble, and which our moral sense will not permit us in any wise to attribute to God; and looking upon these evil things in human history, we are forced to say, “Some enemy hath done this, and the tares have sprung up with the wheat.” But let our eyes somewhere see the perfect man, in whose humanity there is no flaw or blemish; then and there we shall see the perfect word of God, “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.”
II. And now, having found what in the broadest sense is meant by the Word of God, let us consider the victory of that word; and, first, as we see it in the forms and forces of the physical creation about us. Physical science, as we call it, is the dominant study to-day, and marvellous are the results which have been accomplished by it. Not only have we explored the earth and gathered its hidden treasures, but the heavens, and the waters under the earth, and all the forces of nature, we have gathered in golden chains around the feet of man. And yet if, as the result of all this, man is only becoming greater and richer in material products; if all the forces of nature which he has discovered and utilised are only giving him greater material growth and expansion, then, although to-day he can send his messages under the waters and across the seas, and the earth has been made to give its coal and iron and oil and mineral treasures to him, and the stars in their courses fight for him instead of against him, then I say that in spite of all these things he is just as much a prisoner--although, indeed, he is bound with golden chains--as in the days of Sisera and of Job; and, with the materialistic philosophy coming in to tell him that there is nothing but matter and force about him--no thought, no spirit, no heaven, no God--not even a “prisoner of hope.” Let us eat and drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die. But no! The physical universe about us is not merely matter and force; it is the word of mind. There is thought in it, through it, pervading it. It is the embodiment of the thought of God. And, looking at it in this way, then does human life become truly rich, and is “crowned with many crowns.” We are standing, not on the floor of a prison, with the walls of a prison around us, and the great sealed roof of a prison over our heads: we are living in the open of God, and “There is not a bird that sings, There is not a flower that stars the elastic sod, There is not a breath the radiant summer brings, But is a word of God.” But human nature as well as physical nature--the world of man as well as the world of nature--is the word of God. And in the perfect man Christ Jesus, as I have tried to show, we have His perfect word; and, oh, what victories that Word of God has wrought! The story of civilisation is the story of its triumph. All the best things in the world to-day, all the best and purest feelings that touch and sway, if they do not completely control, the heart of man--his highest conduct, his bravest deeds, his noblest sacrifices, his brightest hopes for the future, without which the future is cold and dreary and impenetrable darkness to him--that Word of God has inspired. By that Word of God we have been taught that we are sons of God; and, looking outupon the vast physical creation about us, or looking up through the moral and spiritual clouds above us, we have been able to say, “Our Father, who art in heaven, Thine is the kingdom of the physical creation about us; Thine is the power that is working mysteriously in our human life for our good; Thine is the glory for ever!” And, finding our fatherhood in God, we have found our brotherhood in one another; with the consciousness of that brotherhood we have been trying to live and perform our duties, and are trying, with many infirmities, to perform our duties to-day. Far as we yet come short of that ideal form of life, we are moving toward it, and will continue to move until at last, here or somewhere--it matters not, for everywhere we are in the open of God--here or somewhere we shall all come, in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto the perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Jesus Christ. (D. K. Greer, D. D.)
The Word of God
The Infinite Father has spoken two great words to His intelligent family. One word is Nature. “The heavens declare His glory,” etc. The other word is Christ. He is The Loges.
I. The word of absolute infallibility.
II. The word of exhaustless significance.
III. The word of almighty power.
IV. The word of universal interpretability.
Even the written words that make up what we call the Bible are frequently uninterpretable. Hence their renderings and meanings are constantly fluctuating, and often contradictive. But here is a word that stands for ever--“the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” This word is a Life. A Life a child can interpret, and the greater the life of a man, the more generous, truthful, loving he is, the more readily a child can read and understand him. Hence no life is so interpretable as Christ’s life. (Homilist.)
The four names of Christ
I. The “faithful and true” (verse 11). So was He:
1. In avenging His people.
2. In carrying out His purposes. It mattered not who or what withstood.
3. The past proves the righteousness of this name. His prophecies have been fulfilled. His promises made good. His precepts owned as just.
II. The unknown name. (Verse 12, “And lie had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself.”) It was a written name, but illegible, incomprehensible, to all but Himself. The names advance in majesty. “Faithful and True”--that is an august name, but it cannot be said to be incomprehensible, and known to none but Himself. Glory be to Him that we do know Him by that name, and that the name is rightly His. But now the ineffable nature of the Son of God seems to be suggested. “Who by searching can find out God?” Christ is more than all our thought, than all we have understood or have imagined. Who knows what is the relation between Him and the Father, and what the nature of the union in Him of humanity and God? Who can understand the profound philosophy of the Atonement, the Incarnation, the Resurrection? “No man knoweth the Son but the Father”--so said our Lord; and this unknown name, written, though not read, endorses that sublime saying. And do we wonder that we cannot understand? Why, this we fail to do even with our fellow-men if they be of higher nature than our own. Let us be glad and grateful that, whatever riches of grace and glory we have already known, there is an inexhaustible fountain and an unsearchable store yet remaining. And now a name more majestic still is given.
III. “The word of God” (verse 13).
IV. “King of kings, and Lord of lords” (verse 16). (S. Conway,B. A.)
The armies which were in heaven followed Him.--
Armies invisible and distant on the side of the good
I. The hosts of heaven are interested in the moral campaign whichChrist is preaching on this earth. They not only know what is going on on this little planet, but throb with earnest interest in its history. They desire to look into its great moral concerns. No wonder some in heaven are related to some on earth; they participate in the same nature, sustain the same relation, and are subject to the same laws. Here, too, stupendous events have occurred in connection with Him who is the Head of all Principalities, Powers, and that must ever thrall the universe.
II. The hosts of heaven lend their aid to Christ in his tremendous battles. If you ask me in what way they can render Him aid, I can suggest many probable methods. We know that one great thought struck into the soul of an exhausted and despairing man, can repeat and reinvigorate him. May it not be possible for departed souls and unfallen spirits to breathe such thoughts into the breasts of feeble men on earth?
II. you ask me why Christ should accept such aid as theirs, or the aid of any creature in His mighty struggles, I answer, not because He requires their services, for He could do His work alone, but for their own good. By it He gratifies their noblest instincts, engages their highest faculties, and gains for them their highest honours and sublimest joys.
III. The hosts of heaven are fully equipped for service in this martial undertaking on earth. It was customary in Oriental lands for soldiers of the highest rank to go forth to battle onsteeds. It is a law of Christ’s kingdom that those only who are holy and pure can enter therein: hence these heavenly soldiers are furnished with “white horses,” the emblem of purity, and “white linen” also. No one in heaven or on earth will Christ allow to fight under His banner who are not qualified, both in capacity and character, for the work they undertake. (Homilist.)
He hath on His venture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.--
The kingdom of Christ
I. The title here given to Christ.
1. Christ’s Godhead.
2. His dominion. The kings and lords of the earth exercise but a contracted authority. Not so Christ. His dominion is so great, that it comprehends all principalities and powers in heaven, as well as all thrones and dominions upon earth. Yea, even the devils in hell are subject to His sceptre, and are compelled to obey His commands.
