Christianity was embraced by the head of the Roman Empire. But a mere nominal subjection to him, such as is now professed amongst the princes of Christendom, is not that allegiance of which my text speaks. No : there shall be a willing and unreserved subjection to him amongst all the kings of the earth, and all the kingdoms of the world shall become his un- disputed empire r. It has been promised to the Messiah him- self: "Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utmost ends of the earth for thy posses- sion3." It has been promised also to the Church of God : " Kings shall be thy nursing-fathers, and Queens thy nursing- mothers : they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet1." And " hath God spoken thus, and will he not make it good ? "
" His counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure"." "He hath chosen*" the Lord Jesus to be his servant; and " given him for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth," and to redeem the inhabitants of it from their bond- agey: and who shall change his purpose, or obstruct the execution of his will ? In the covenant he entered into with his own Son, he engaged, that, " when his Son should make his soul an offering for sin, he should see a seed who should prolong their days, and the pleasure of the Lord should pros- per in his hands : yea, that he would give unto him the great for a portion, and divide unto him the strong for a spoil2." And we may be perfectly assured, that this stone, however disallowed by the professed builders of the Church, "shall become the head of the corner3:" yea, "this stone, cut out without hands, shall break in pieces all the kingdoms of the world, and establish one undivided empire over the face of the whole earth V]
Behold, then,
1. What a glorious period is fast approaching!
[Assuredly, what is here foretold shall be fulfilled in its season. Was Jesus, "after all his humiliation" unto death, exalted above all the principalities and powers of heaven, earth, and hellc; and shall not all that hath been predicted concerning him be fulfilled 1 Yes ; " He shall be king over all the earth: there shall be but one Lord, and his name oned:" and if any refuse to bow to the sceptre of his grace,
r Rev. xi. 15. s Ps. ii. 8. * ver. 23. u Isai. xlvi. 10. x The concluding words of the text should have been translated in the past tense. See Vitringa in loc.
y Compare ver. 8,9. with ch. xlii. 1. z Isai. liii. 10 — 12.
a 1 Pet. ii. C, 7. b Dan. ii. 34, 35, 44, 45.
c Phil. ii. G— 11. ll Zech. xiv. 9.
Christ's future reign. 25 >
950.]
" they shall be broken in pieces, as a potter's vessel e." Con- template then this clay, when all, without exception, "shall be righteous f ;" when " holiness to the Lord shall be written upon the bells of the horses ;" and when " there shall no more be found a Canaanite in the landK." Did Abraham, at the dis- tance of two thousand years, rejoice at his glimmering prospect of the Redeemer's first advent11; and shall not we rejoice in the glorious consummation which is now so fast approaching? Surely the heavens and the earth should rejoice, yea, the " hills should break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field should clap their hands," at the prospect which we now enjoy of a speedy and universal establishment of the Redeemer's kingdom upon earth1.]
2. What encouragement have they who minister in holy things !
[The Prophets and Apostles had much to contend with, in their day; and some of them saw, at the time, but little fruit of their labour. But would one among them think either his labours or his sufferings too great, if he could now see what exists upon the face of the earth, among the saints of God ? How much less, then, will they grudge their services, when they shall behold the Lord Jesus reigning in his millen- nial glory; and still less, when they shall see the full and entire fruit of their labours in the heavenly world ! Let those, then, who engage in the service of their Lord, whether in the contracted circle of a single parish, or in the more enlarged sphere of a mission to the heathen, contemplate the benefit which may be hoped to arise from their labours; and that, not at the first moment of their exertions, but at a more remote period, when perhaps a " little one, whom they shall have be- gotten to the Lord, shall have become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation k." Let every one that is engaged in this blessed work gladly " do all things, and suffer all things for the elect's sake, that they may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory1." And if only they be permitted to sow the seed, let them remember, that the day is coming, " when they who sowed, and they who reaped, shall rejoice together"1."]