Christ's Influence on Government
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.” — ISAIAH Lll. 15.
The prophet claims for the coming Christ a distinct originality — “That which had not been told them shall they see.” He says the Christ will announce an idea so original that kings will be struck speechless with astonishment. Nothing shuts the mouths of the critics like originality; it presents food for deliberation. But why is it kings that are to be struck speechless; why not philosophers? It is because the new thing in Christ’s religion lies, not in the sphere ot philosophy, but in the sphere of government. What is the newest thing that Christ told the world? The Trinity? The Brahman knew that. The Incarnation? The Greek knew that. The need of sacrifice? The Jew knew that. The Resurrection? The Parsee knew that. The Day of Judgment? The Egyptian knew that. Did Christ say anything which these nations did not know? Yes; and it was something which concerned government. He told the world’s potentates that in the coming days the greatest king would be the most burdened servant. No wonder it was sovereigns that shut their mouths! It was of them He spoke the new thing. He said that the king, because he was a king, would be the servant of all — not because he was deposed, not because he was subjugated, not because he was the victim of a revolution, but precisely because he sat upon a pinnacle ot power.
Son of Man, I have narrowed too much the sphere of Thy Cross! I have thought of it as a thing merely for other worlds. A hundred times have I said that religion should be excluded from politics. And yet, the originality of Thy religion is just its making ot politics. How little do I realise that the modern type of kinghood is of Thy creation!
Why is it that the proudest boast of royalty is to carry the burdens of the people? It is because in the very act of Thy kinghood Thou hast borne the Cross. I thank Thee, I praise Thee, I bless Thee, for the bloodless revolution Thou hast made in the thoughts of men! We have not taken captive our kings, to reign in their stead; they have made themselves our captives. They have waked to a new glory — Thy glory. They have seen Thee carrying the world on Thy breast, and claiming the burden by reason of Thy royalty. They have caught the sheen of Gethsemane, the glow of Calvary. They have seen the majesty of Thy ministry to man, the regalness of Thy redeeming love, the crown that made Thee crucify Thy soul. They have felt through Thee that love makes debtors of us all — that the highest has to pay, that the greatest has to bear the load. They have learned, they are learning more and more, that on the steps of Thy Cross is reached the modern throne, and that only in the sacrifice to a nation’s good can they wield the sceptre ot the King of Kings.