The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 549

Ver. 17.-" The King in hu beauty," "Thine eyes she.11 see the King in his beauty," Of this we may take- r. THE CONTEMI'ORARY VIEW, Those who heard these words from Isaiah 'e lips or read them from the roll on which he wrote them would naturally think of Hezekiah. But in what aspect would they think of him as clothed on with beauty? Not, surely, as one arrayed in gorgeous royal robes, or as one surrounded with the pomp of a royal court; but a.s one who wielded the kingly sceptre in righteousness and in wisdom, The king in his beauty, to the eye of the man who speaks for God, is that so-vereign who (1) honours God in all his doings and dealings with man; (2) uses his position and his power to further Divine truth; (3) lays himself out for the good of others rather than for his own enjoyment or the aggrandizement of his house. And these things, mutatis mutandis, constitute the beauty of all earthly authority and power. II. THE :MEBSIANio VIEW. If we refer the words of the prophet to him to whom, in themselves and apart from the context, they are most appropriate-to that Son of man who ea.me to be the Saviour-Sovereign of mankind, we have two views brought before us. 1. That of Jesus Christ as he lived on earth-the meek King of men (Matt. xxi. 5), he who claimed to be a King even a.she stood bound before Pilate (John xviii. 33-36). Here we see the King in his beauty as we see him in his purity of heart, in his devoted- ness to the work his Father had placed in his hands, in his submissiveness to that Father's will, in his quick and tender sympathy with the sorrowing and the abandoned, in his inexhaustible patience with the undeserving and the wrong. 2. That of the Divine Redeemer as he reigns in heaven. Thus viewed, we see in him the beauty of one who (1) once surrendered everything he was and had in order that he might redeem a fallen race,-the beauty of the most perfect sacrifice; (2) now welcomes to his kingdom the worst of all that have rebelled against his will,-the beauty of perfect magnanimity; (3) now bears with his servants in all their manifold infirmities and insufficiencies of service,-the beauty of perfect patience; (4) now dispenses grace and help to every one of his followers according to their individual necessities and requests, -the beauty of perfect beneficence. IlL THE DISTANT VIEW. Our eyes will see the King in his beauty when we see :,,. him as he is "-the ascended and reigning Lord. Then we shall (1) behold the glories :,f his heavenly administration ; we shall (2) dwell upon the transcendent excellence of his Divine character; and we shall then (3) be drawn towards him in spiritual resemblance (1 John iii. 2), live under his reign in unremitting and untiring service (Rev. vii. 15 ; xxi.. 25), dwell with him and reign with him in everlasting joy (2 Tim. i. 12 ; Rev. ii 26 ; iii. 21; xxii 5).-C. Ver. 17.-The breadth of the kingdom. "They shall behold the land of far distances " (see marginal reading). We look at- L THE BREADTH OF THE HISTOBIOAL KINGDOM. Judah was to be delivered from her .Assyrian oppressor. At present she was beleaguered, shut in on every hand, by the invading army ; her citizens had no range of land they could traverse-they were eonfined to the narrow circle made by the besieging hosts of Sennacherib. But soon those boundaries would be removed, the army would be scattered o.nd would disappear. Then the country would be open everywhere; in whatsoever direction they looked they would see hills they might climb and valleys they might cultivate at will; as far BB the eye could reach the country would be free to the traveller and to the husbandman. They would behold a "land of far distances,n a broad kingdom they might call their own. II. THE BREADTH OF THE SPIBITOAL KINGDOM, That kingdom of Christ, wherein we stand and in which we so much rejoice, is a "land of far distances," a region of glorious breadth of view and range of motion and of action. There is nothing in it that is limiting, nothing that confines; everything is on an enlarged scale. There is about it a noble and inviting freedom; the horizon-line recedes perpetually as we advance. This applies in full to its distinguishing features, 1. The grace of God shown to us in Jes'll,f, <;hrist. The breadth, the fulness, of the Divine Father's love in giving us his Son (John iii. 16; Rom. viii 32); the, fulness of !he Saviour's ~ov~ in making such.~ sacrifice of heavenly dignity, glory, and Joy (John 1. 1-14; Phil. 11. 6,. 7; 2, Cor. Vlll, 9), and stooping to such depths of darkness, shame, and woe, humbling hlillself even unto death : what glorious breadths and depths and l1c.ights have we here I 2. The merfy olr. xx.xnr. 1-24.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH, 51'i3