He Sitteth at the Right Hand of God
His Expectation
Tuts is the centre of the great argument of 1 Cor. xv. 25. ‘‘ He must reign,” 7.¢., He must continue seated on the Throne, until the Father shall have put all things under His feet (Ps. vil. 6; cx. 1). Even the last enemy, Death, will be placed by the Father under the feet of the Son. The proud neck of the all-conqueror must become the footstool of the feet which were pierced by - him with the rugged iron of the Cross.
Cf course, when it is said that all things are to be subjected unto Him, it must be clearly understood that the Father Himself must be excepted. But when the whole universe has been made subject unto Him, then the Son also Himself shall become subject to Him who has. granted Him so marvellous a supremacy, and God shall be All in all. ‘“‘ Then,” as Bengel puts it, “all creatures will be able to say, God is everything to me.”
The attitude of Christ is therefore one of calm expectancy. The Father said, “Ask of me,
and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine 137
1o — (2516)
inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.”
Our Lord has asked, and in reply the Father has bidden Him sit at His right hand, whilst He subdues the principalities and powers of the Heavenly Places. The task seems impossible and the more so, because God refuses to avail Himself of the Divine attribute of omnipotence. He will conquer by moral and spiritual means, though it may take millenniums. But silently, slowly, and surely, the process of subjugation is going on.
Granted that enormous wrongs are still perpetrated by man against his fellow, that war and lust and crime with linked hands ravage vast tracts of territory, and that the floods of misrule and rebellion lift up their voices; granted that the kings and princes of the world are gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ; yet they are only doing whatsoever God’s hand and counsel determined before to be done. Their very fury is another step in the direction of their final subjugation. Every plunge fastens the noose more securely round their necks (Acts iv. 28). They dig pits into which they fall themselves.
Examination by torture is a thing of the past. The sports of the people are less debasing, for even in Spain the bull-fight is decaying. Society is more careful of girl and child life. A victorious foe feels it incumbent to care for the wounded of the vanquished. Arbitration Treaties fill the air. The Public Press is quick to expose wrong-doing. The evils of over-crowding receive the attention and engage the sympathy of our foremost men. Abominable inhumanity is not permitted to pass unchallenged, as witness the late diabolical outrages on the natives of the Congo-Balolo territory.
When compelled by the lords of the Inquisition to recant his discovery that the earth moved round the sun, and to accept their theory that it was stationary, Galileo muttered between his teeth, yet it moves; so in the teeth of those who indulge in their pessimistic assertions that things are waxing worse, we reiterate our conviction that God’s purpose is quietly moving on, and bringing about that new Heavens and new Earth, in which dwelleth Righteousness.
Meanwhile Christ sits and waits. It is to this attitude that the Beloved Apostle alludes, when he says, that we are partakers in the sorrows, the Kingship, and the patient endurance of Jesus (Rev. i. 9).
We sometimes say to each other, ‘‘ How can He bear to see all the horror and misery of this poor world!” He sees not yet all things put under Him — that is most surely true. But He sees that they will be (Heb. ii. 9, etc.). He beholds the emancipated race, the far-off interest of tears, the joyful harvest, and it nerves Him to endure.
In patience He possesses His soul, because He sees that all things are working for good. He knows that the Father will not fail nor be discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth. Already He hears singing across the field of battle the refrain, “The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever.”