Christ's Cross and Crown

Revelation 19: 12, 13.

“His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called the Word of God.”

1. There is a day coming, when in consideration of Christ’s bloodshedding and death he shall triumph and reign with his beloved church. The book of the Apocalypse is chiefly concerned in the great warfare and victory of the glorious future, and yet have you not observed, my brethren, how often in this gorgeous panorama of prophetic imagery, there are brought out fully into view some tokens and signal remembrances of the humiliation and atonement? In the very crown we are made to see the cross, and are reminded that it is because he made himself of no reputation, that “God hath highly exalted him?” Early in the book, (1: 5,) the ascription is to “him that loved QS nd washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests:” here is both the humiliation and the exaltation. Again (5: 6) John beholds, and ‘’ lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four living ones, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain.” Here is the propitiation enthroned in the very heart and central spot of heaven: blood upon the very throne; the cross and the crown.

The song of the living ones and elders, prostrate, with harps and odors (5:8) is, “thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood — and we shall reign on the earth:” here again suffering and glory. And then the praise is caught up by all creatures, “unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever.” The throng in white robes (7:13) serving God day and night before the throne, are such as ‘’ have washed their robes and made them white in the plood of tine Lamb.” The brethren who are victorious over Satan (12: 11) are said to overcome him by the blood of the Lamb.” It is the Lamb, (14: 1,) who stands on Mount Sion, with one hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. The spirit of all these declarations is the same. The Mercy-seat is not forgotten in the latter glory, but the ark of the covenant reappears in heaven. Jesus can agonize no more; he can be arrested no more; no more can his garments be rent from him, to be replaced by the mockery of purple, diadem and scej)tre; no more can he be slapped (paniw) in the face, hoodwinked and spit upon; no more can he be torn with Roman scourges, and nailed to the cursed cross. No pang does he carry to heaven. Yet, in heaven, he is other than he would have been, but for the garden, the pretorium and “the place of a skull.” There, amidst his loved and redeemed ones, amidst a multitude of the heavenly host, on the supreme throne, Christ still bears the tokens of a sacrificial death; and even when he comes up to victory and vengeance, he is red in his

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apparel, and his “garments like him that treadeth in the winefat.” (Is. 63:2.) No eye shall look upon the Beloved in paradise, without recognising him as the Man of Sorrows, and the familiar of grivt.

(Is. 53.)

2. Christ’s triumph and reign are in consideration of his death. One is the purchase of the other. He “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore also God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.” (Phil. 2:9.) Such was the engagement before all worlds. “When his soul shall make an offering for sin, he shall see his seed — because he hath poured out his soul unto death — therefore says Jehovah, I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.” (Is. 53.) It is because he suffered, that he reigns. That suffering was penal and vicarious. It could not otherwise have fallen on him. The suffering was for others: the recompense also is for others. Christ reigns and rejoices in his people. They accompany his triumphal progress and share in his tlirone-Christ’s cross and crowx. 345

It is because of this that he comes even to the marriage supper, with a vesture dipped in blood. The mediatorial exaltation of Jesus Christ is all in consequence of his mediatorial humiliation: and this is one reason why we rejoice and exult in his bliss and glory, because it is the fruit of his agony. The honor done to God’s justice, by Christ’s death, is the cause of jubilee in heaven. It is this only which has bought back the body of disciples from hell. The whole mystery of redemption is in these words, which are this day translated into the language of bread and wine, Christ hath died. 3. It is the blood and dying of Jesus Christ which subdues the believing soul in order to the eventual triumjDh. Of all those multitudes, every one came in the same way. Each yielded at the cross. He could brave Sinai; but there was that on Calvary, which unmanned him, and he yielded to triumphant Love. When a soul believes, that single act cuts it off from ten thousand things at once, and joins it to Christ. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” What is faith, but a recejDtion of this bleeding

S4:6 Christ’s cross and crown.

atonement? Faith looks on, and goes out to, this very dying. Here is the sublime moral influence of the Cross. Besides silencing all the batteries of divine justice, and procuring pardon of sin, it subdues that soul, by the infinite weight of Christ’s love — “which passeth knowledge.” Before Messiah conquers the earth and the universe; before he rules them with a rod of iron and treadeth the “winepress of the fierceness and wrath of God;” before the doxology, “Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” — there is a private work to be wrought on each individual soul, and this by the cross of Jesus Christ. Beholding this mighty love of God, the sinner melts and yields and weeps and is forgiven. When the Lord sues, by his pierced hands and crimson apparel, he cannot be denied. This winninsr of the soul is in the day of first love and espousals on earth. But it all makes way for the lofty scene set before us in the context: this hour is that of consummate union: “for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.” (v. 7.) O brethren! the day is coming when we shall be among “a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands;” but not one, who does not ascribe the conquest of his mind and heart to the believing view of a dyino-Christ. This is “the excellency of the knowledge.” The love of Christ constraineth them. It is a fit preparation for eventual universal dominion, that first of all Christ subdues his peo23le unto him by the blood of his cross.

4. It is in Ghrists character of dying Saviour that the church universal regards him even in heaven. In his triumphal retinue there is not one, whose eye is not fixed on the vesture of blood. It is not the manger or the sepulchre, that we think of in connexion with the name Jesus, so much as the Cross. See, in the Apostles’ Creed, how soon we go from Bethlehem to Calvary, “born of the Virgin Mary — suflfered under Pontius Pilate.” It is one of the tokens of declining religion when this character of the Son of God, is thrown

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into the obscurity of the back-ground, even tliougli much be said of Ms teaching and Ms exam]3le. It is an evil symptom when congregations begin to complain that they have too much of blood and atonement; and it is usually a precursor of Unitarian infidelity, when the Lord’s Supper is emptied of its reference to propitiation, and instead of being a memorial and seal of the bloody covenant and sacrificial death, becomes only a solemn way of joining the church or taking a Christian vow. As in our effectual calling and first believing, it is the dying Jesus who fills the whole heaven of our vision, and to whom our whole gushing soul goes forth, as if there were scarcely another being in the Universe; and as in that hour of love we feel the hands which are laid around our sinking souls to be the pierced hands, and the heart that throbs to ours the broken heart; so all along our Christian course, it is the same holy fascination which will not let us take our eyes from the awful lovely sight, of our Divine Friend and Elder Brother “bruised for our iniquities.” And then in another solemn hour if the dying

J saint has any image floating before his inward eye, when the last murmur has ceased to attendant friends, and when the glassy balls convey no light — - it is the image of Christ on the Cross: and when (the next moment) the refreshed, healed, and ransomed soul, is admitted to the vision of the Redeemer, it beholds him as a “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Christ will not have this forgotten, even in the day of his victorious entry, to receive his spotless bride. Though he who sitteth on the white horse is the Faithful and True (v. 11) — the King of kings and Lord of lords (v. 16) — yea the very “Word of God (v. 13) — yet is he “clothed with a vesture dipyed in blood.” Do not think my beloved brethren, that there will be one saint in glory, who will not feel that all pardon safety and joy, and all there is in heaven, have been yurchased by the Lord Jesus Christ in his priestly character. This it is which pierces the heart of Christ’s redeemed bride, that Christ should have died for her. She can never forget it, in earth or heaven. By this name, Jesus, the name wliicli tells of death, she would ever name her Lord: in these colours of crimson would she ever behold him. Deserving as He is of all robes of majesty and crowns of honour, none of them would so gloriously become his divine beauty and kingship, if he were not “clothed with a vesture dipped in blood.” The breathing of his heart-broken church and turtle dove has continually been the same as of the individual penitent.

“His dying crimson, like a robe
Spreads o’er his body on the tree
Then am I dead to all the globe
And all the globe is dead to me.”

5. But the power and majesty of Christ are to be shown, not merely over those who believe in him, that is to say, his Church, but over the world. The whole tenor of prophecy shows that there is a day coming when the Lord Jesus shall appear in his royalty, and when he shall have amends for all he has endured from his enemies. Our earth is waiting for a scene of glorious indemnity and reprisals. Say not that since the resurrection Christ has suffered and been persecuted no more. He hath suffered! With vastly more significancy than his servant Paul, can he say “Who is offended, and I burn not?” To that same ajDostle, when yet a foe, he cried from heaven, in terms that show how truly he takes to himself all that is aimed at his people, “Saul Saul why persecutest thou me?” From his judgment throne he shall say, “Inasmuch as ye did it not to the least of these my brethren, ye did it not to me.” For centuries Christ’s church has been the mark for enemies; and as if impatient at delay, “the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held,” have been crying from beneath the altar, Rev. 6:9 “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Let no careless sinner, let no froward opposer, persuade himself, that because our king Messiah is infinite in goodness, he is therefore to do nothing in the universe but bless and save For such mistakers, it will be too late, when the voice shall be heard saying. Is. 63:4 “For the day of vengeance is in my heart and the year of my redeemed is come.” There is a day of vengeance; and to this some refer the vesture dipped in blood; finding a parallel in the words of Isaiah; “I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me; for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.” These words of Isaiah undeniably refer to the punishment which Christ shall inflict on his obstinate enemies. And our present context by no means excludes this idea of vindicatory justice; for see in V. 15. “Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite th nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” The idea of Christ’s vengeance, I say, is by no means excluded; and nevertheless I adhere to that common view of the text, which understands it as relating to sacrificial blood. He who rides in triumph appeal’s primarily as God the Saviour, then as God the Judge. He is humbled before lie is exalted. The propitiation and passion are the foundation of the triumph and the reign. Yet when the once-crucified Jesus re-appears and the armies which are in heaven follow him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, — the very love which he bears his church will cause him to destroy her oppressors. Age after age despots in church and state have forgotten it; yet as far back as the second psalm, v. 9 we remember to have heard it sung, unto Messiah, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Again (Ps. 89:23) ‘’I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.” Nay it is a rule and a vindication, secured not only to our king, but to his church; for, if words have any meaning, we so read, (2:26) in the message to Thyatira: “And to him that overcometh, will I give power over the nations.” So Paul comforts his Thessalonians (1: 7) —” And to you who are troubled rest — mth us — when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking veuieance on them that know not God, and

that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” How different this from what some expect at Christ’s appearing! He shall come not only to give “rest,” but to ‘’ take vengeance.” And under this general head of judicial recompense we can scarcely fail to include Christ’s providential dealings with hings and com-monrDealtlis. Christ is king of kings and king of commonwealths. All the constitutions good and bad of the world are unwittingly working out a problem which he hath set them. And sometimes when I hear of wars and convulsions and dethronements, it seems to me that I am listening to the sound of earthen vessels, dashing one another to pieces, in the violent rushing torrent of divine destiny. He that died on Calvary holds a guiding hand over all the changes of mankind. In the scroll of prophecy some parts are but half-unrolled, as yet. Still, amidst much darkness there are some things which we can read, in characters of flame. All the future is not to be days of peace. Whatever the advocates of perfectibilian progress may say, and whatever dreams they

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may have of a golden age and Saturnian kingdoms, when they shall have destroyed property and marriage and the sabbath and the church — he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision; “Then shall he speak unto them in his sore displeasure.” These retributions are yet in reserve. Ever since our Lord rode in triumph over prostrate Jerusalem, he has from time to time been making bare his arm in behalf of his church. The eye of the student of prophecy sees one giand retribution, as vivid as lightning. Babylon awaits her destruction. If the volcanic hres that break out sometimes at Etna and sometimes at Vesuvius, and smoulder under the whole Campagna, were all at once to unsettle the seven hills, and physically shake down the seat of antichristian tyranny, the exjDlosion would not be more sudden nor the overthrow more complete, than that which we expect for Babylon. No abridgment can be made of the eighteenth chapter — we see her glory — we see her ftill — we behold the commercial nations standing afar off and bewailing her desolation: v. 20 “Rejoice over her, thou heavens and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.” The hour is at hand, my brethren, when to be on Christ’s side will be the only safety in the universe; when his enemies shall in the sight of all intelligent beings, be confounded; and when those that “love his appearing” shall shine forth like the sun.

6. More particularly, the exaltation of our atoning Lord is connected with the variety and greatness of his realms: “On his head were many crowns.” It is not a single sovereignty. Many crowns import diversity of rule and emyire. He is “King of kings and Lord of lords,” and I’ightfully bears the diadems of all the kinsrs and lords over whom he reisns. He that was slain, has by virtue of his death, the crown of the church; he wears it, benignant in love, the royal bridegroom, who can never for a moment forget the crown of thorns, which he wore for her sake. He has the crown of the nations; “the kingdoms of this world are become the kinsrdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” As the day approaches we may exj-ect the wheels to run round more rapidly; more tliroiK^s will totter; more dynasties will crumble away, and fall into the political crater; more oppressions will cease; more brotherhoods will coalesce; more commerce will knit together continents; more discoveries will harmonize conflicting interests; more liberty will be granted to religion; more ships will be freighted with the word; more kings shall be nursing fathers and queens nursing mothers, until the day when “he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth, and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth: because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.” More visibly shall Jesus then reign over the nations. He has farther the crown of the Universe; and he has it because of his bloodsheddin and death. He who (in the text) says “his name is called the Word of God” is the same apostle who elsewhere ascribes to that mysterious name the creation of the world. “He was in the world, and the world wns made by him, and the world knew him not.” Had they known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But on that very cross he triumphed over them, and his many crowns well comport with the vesture di|)ped in blood. He died — “wherefore Grod also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth.” “All things were created Col. 1: 16 by him and for him; and he is befoie all things, and by him all things consist.” There is no his/her name, there is no more regal glory. When we arrive in our ascent at Christ Jesus, we reach the acme of divine sovereignty; we are brought to rest in the centre. And this illustrates and magnifies the condescending grace and compassion whereby such creatures (as we have been) are allowed to approach the infinite Ruler. Is it credible, that God the Word, incarnate, should have purchased such an exaltation — for such sinners — and by such means? by dying, for them, the accursed death of the cross! Is it credible? Yea, faith receives it; as the j)rime doctrine of relisrion. Here is the downward flight of pity and love, wliicli no comprehension of mind can measure.... God so loved the world! He has a right to reign; first over us, then over all. Let the circle widen, from self, and family, and acquaintanceship, and state, and country, and language, and church, and planet, and system, till the universe be taken into the sweep of his dominion, and all worlds contribute to his many crowns! Each humbled, panting soul will say, Lord whatever men, and whatever worlds may reject thee — thou shalt reign over me! Here here is thy throne. Forgive me, forgive me, O forgive me — that I have been so long withholding this homage! Forgive me, incarnate Love, that other lords beside thee have had dominion over me. Take the full overflowing tide of all my affections, O Jesus! Would God the vessel were more capacious! Would

God, that millions of other hearts might join, to make the sacrifice of praise more worthy. O thou who art clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, in this land of my exile and homesickness I will anticiyate the song of glory, and say, These crowns become thee!

Kule thou in the midst of thine enemies! for thou art worthy!

Y. Such are the contrasts afforded by this wonderful glimpse of coming day: we are carried directly from the cross to the throne. ilnd this occasions no shock to the loving mind; for as there never was a true believer who did not grieve with Christ in his sufferings, as if the soul itself had been in part the guilty cause of this suffering, — so, I su[)y)Ose, there never was a true believer who did not rejoice with Christ in his heavenly recompense and exaltation. Who that knows the Lord does not exult to think that every conceivable diadem of glory is put upon his head; and that he is coming to be acknowledged by the universe as King of kings and Lord of lords? Yes Christians — ye shall be amonof the multitude, whose utterance, “as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thunderings, shall be, ‘’Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!”

O my brethren, and ye who sit here so unconcerned, these are solemn times, which are coming upon the earth! None of that news from beyond sea, which so much excites you, is to be compared to these certain changes! The sublunary revolutions are only precursors of the grand, divine revolution. You are perhaps nearer to the point of observation, than you are willing to think. Presently, who knows but you shall hear a “great voice from heaven, saying Come up hither!’’’’ Whether you live long enough on earth, to witness any indubitable signs of Christ’s coming, or not, you will very soon be called to judgment, and will taste the experience of heaven or hell. How will your scorching eyeballs shrink back into their orbits, from before him whose eyes are as a flame of fire — if you shall have been finally impenitent! Of what profit will it be to you to have seen unfolded so often this vesture dipj)ed in blood; so often to have turned your back on Sacraments; so often to have been directed and invited and besought to take part in this propitiation; if then, after all, you shall behold in Jesus Christ, not a pardoning Grod, but an avenging Judge? Of what profit will it be to you, to behold Christ arrayed in majesty and crowned with dominion, and followed by the armies of heaven, if, at the dread moment, conscience shall rise and tell you, that your portion is henceforth with the fearful, the abominable, and the unbelieving! But why need it so be? Behold the lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! The spot from which I address you seems bedewed with the blood of Christ. Every thing Sacramental is full of invitation. Though you may have entered those doors in utter carelessness, why should you not now be subdued by the mighty argument of the Cross? Your inexcusable delay does but magnify your danger. You cannot be sure of another offer of Christ as long as you live. “To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts!”

And you, my beloved Christian brethren who have come with me to surround the table of the Lord; you who know him; you who have tasted that the Lord is gracious; you who have with the full concert of every power of soul, humbly but delightedly given yourselves away to Christ, and who would gladly renew the gift a thousand thousand times, adding to it if you could the inhabitants of a thousand thousand worlds; jou come hither fchis day with a welcome! Of this you need have no doubt. Let me for your encouragement dwell in conclusion on two thoughts. (1) You are coming to one who is clothed in a vesture dipped in blood. You are coming to him who died for you (the simplest bu’fc greatest truth in all religion). Here on this table, you will behold the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus. If now this Kedeemer lays such stress on his pacriiicial work and precious bloodshedding, as not even to ride in triumph without the badge of his death, how confidently may you approach the eucharistic table with hope of being received! The very intention of the rite is to show forth that very death, which is the sole foundation of a sinner’s life. The day is coming, I know, when Christ is to be on a throne of judgment. Then having died in your sins it will indeed be too late to pray to him; and though you pray to rocks and mountains, they will no more melt, at your cry, than your hearts have melted at the cry of God. But now, Jesus is upon the throne of grace. He treats with you from the mercy-seat. It is a

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duty you owe him, to cast away these unbelieving hesitations. He commands you to believe; He commands you to rejoice. He offers you himself, as gratuitously as we offer you this bread and wine. And still I think I perceive some of you, even of long standing in Christianity, murmuring in your tents as if it were false that “this man receiveth sinners.” You doubt and distrust. This has come ujDon you for your sins, your worldly compliances, your neglects, your idolatries. You have lost your evidences, and are afraid of your Saviour. — But O tell me, is this the way to treat one who died for you! Shame on your scruples and delay; Come boldly to the throne of grace, and to the table of mercy, that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. For (2) you are coming to one, who bears on his head many crowns. You are coming to a King Therefore enlarge your petitions. Be not niggardly in your exj)ectations, as though these gifts went by desert. It is the very first thing which you have to unlearn in religion. The promise is, “I am he who brought thee out of the land of Egypt:

open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.” I am lie that redeemed thee — make large requests, and be satisfied. This Great King has invited you here to bless you. He is able to subdue your enemies and deliver you from your sins. You cannot ask too much of spiritual good for your soul. You cannot ask more than Christ’s death has merited. You cannot ask more than Christ’s power can effect. You are at liberty to multiply your prayers, in the way of intercession, for those whom you bring in the love of your hearts, to this sacred place. Where are you? Is not this a King’s court? Is not the master of the Assembly King of kings and Lord of lords? Be in haste to include in your petition all whom you would look around for, if the next moment should bring the crash of the Universe. Can you ascend to heaven without these souls! Can you clasp to your bosom one whom you may yet see at Christ’s left hand ‘Go farther — stretch more wide the arms of comprehensive benevolence! Take in a world of sinners. You are in the presence-chamber of that King, who cried “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” — By all his atoning blood, by all his regal crowns, plead with him, instantly, and importunately, that he would speedily come and tarn his enemies into friends! All the other thoughts, desires and passions of life ought to be swallowed up in this, and would be .... if we only saw things aright. No object, conceivable by man, can stand comparison for an instant with the reign of Christ over a subdued world. Perish all gain, all power, all science, all art, all honor, in comparison. Let the same mind be in you, that was in Christ Jesus. Look out for the deepest, fathomless part of the ocean, for a place whereinto to cast forever that burdensome millstone about your neck ... I mean Self I Show it no mercy! For Christ — for his Cross — for his Crown — for his people — count all things but loss.