“I have installed My King on Zion, upon My holy mountain.”“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.Yet I have set my king Upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 sermons cite this verse
Well, it's been said in the world there are three types of people, and only three. Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who ask, what just happened? I wonder this morning, do you understand what's going on in this world? Do you have a lens through which to read the news or to watch it on television and all the terrifying scenes that are set before us? Do you understand what's going on in the world? The chaos, the confusions, the downright contradictions in modern man or postmodern man. Look at us today in America, the greatest nation in the world, and in one sense, the worst. No nation has such light given to it as America has received. Two great awakenings, the preaching of a faithful church for centuries since the beginning and before, were technologically brilliant. Look at the advances our scientists have made in recent years in technology and industry and farming and every other area of human study. Just think of computers for a second. …
And then, not only was a claim of His Sovereignty made by the affixing of this title, but His reign was then and there proclaimed. In an earthly monarchy, as soon as one king is gone, it is usual to proclaim His successor. And by that accusation written up over the head of Christ, a proclamation was made throughout all the earth that Jesus had assumed the Throne and He has never ceased to reign! He went back to His Father and returned again to the earth and dwelt here for forty days. And then His feet left Mount Olive and He ascended to His Throne, and there He sits "expecting till His enemies are made His footstool." His Kingdom is established—do you all belong to it? It is a Kingdom that, in a certain sense, was recognized on the Cross by Pilate's proclamation, though it had existed long before, for His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom! Do you belong to it, or are you outside of it, opposed to it, or indifferent to it? Remember that he that is not with Christ is against Him! Those who are not on His side, He reckons to be on the other side! Are you, my Brothers and Sisters, in the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, I know that you look with delight upon that inscription and as you trust to the blood of Christ to cleanse you, you cast your eyes up to that dear head that was crowned with thorns and rejoice to think that Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, is also your King and Lord and Savior! …
Another reflection from the text is that we can only live for Christ as we live by Christ We cannot glorify Him except as He gives us the Grace to do so—if we attempt to do it by our own power, we shall most certainly fail. Wait at His Cross, Beloved! Cry to Him to give you the aid of His almighty Spirit and then, through the effectual working of the Holy Spirit, you shall be able to live for Jesus, alone, by whom and for whom you were made both at your first creation and also when you were created anew in Christ Jesus! And, lastly, it is clear from all this that Christ must triumph. Some of us have been almost breaking our hearts as we look around at the follies of the generation in which we live. They are going on pilgrimages to the shrines of their idols—the gods that are not gods! They are bowing down to their priests and confessing in their ears the sad stories that should be told only to God! They are setting up the calves and images that their fathers worshipped and turning away from the only living and true God! All this we mourn and grieve over, but let us not imagine that Christ's true Kingdom is suffering loss! Beneath the dark clouds that hide the sun, we mourn the absence of the great orb of day, but think how brightly the sun is shining above those clouds! Borrow an eagle's wings and soar above the clouds, and then you shall see the sun shining in his strength. So is it with Christ, the Sun of Righteousness! Get away, by faith, from this poor earth, and you shall see Him shining in His Glory, whether it is day or night, summer or winter! Christ must reign. "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us." But it is still true, "Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion." And He shall reign forever and ever, and let all His people say, "Hallelujah!" And again and again cry, "Hallelujah!" …
side. Does not the same thing happen among those who ally themselves with the Son of David at this day? Although He whom we worship is despised and rejected of men, yet unto you who believe, He is precious! They that fear the Lord, love Christ and embrace His Gospel. Those that have a new heart and a right spirit are not at all dubious which side to take. They have lifted up their hands to the Crucified One and they are sworn to do battle for His cause as long as they live! We need not be ashamed to side with Jesus, for we shall be in good company—not in the company of the nobles of the earth, those who bear its titles, own its wealth, or enjoy its empty fame—but in the company of the pure in heart, of the heirs of the promises, of those to whom God has been pleased to reveal Himself, yes, of the babes out of whose mouths He has perfected praise! Oh, we may well be content to cast in our lot with God's elect, be they who they may in the world's esteem, or be their lot what it may in their pilgrimage to the better country! With them would we be numbered! With them would we be associated! With them would we go! Let Christ's people be our people. Where they toil, we would toil. With them would we live. With them would we die. With them would we be buried, in the glad hope that with them we shall rise again to live forever in the fellowship of the saints! …
Now I further remark that in the gifts of the Gospel and the blessings of Christ we see Divine Goodness. You will never see Divine Goodness so clearly as you do in the fact that God gave His Son. "God so loved the world that He gave"—gave what?—Gave what token of His love? Gave the air we breathe, the fruits of the earth we feed upon, the flowers that charm our eyes, the gorgeous sun that shines resplendent in the skies—these are proofs of His benevolence no doubt, but all other proofs are comprehended in this—"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The Gospel of good news declares everywhere that whoever believes in Christ is not condemned. Herein the amazing goodness of God is described in a few words—an Infinity of meaning is pressed into a single sentence! The blessings that God has conferred on us in Christ— comprehending as they do the Holy Spirit who brings all things to us—show the riches of His goodness! Earthly blessings are but the lower springs—and they are often discolored in a measure by the soil through which they flow—but heavenly blessings are the upper springs, leaping from the Eternal Throne, immortal and pure, making those that drink pure and immortal, so that they shall never die! In Christ you can see Divine Sovereignty as you never saw it before. Oh, I like to think that Christ is King—that over all the world He reigns—that God has committed all power into His hands who is our Brother, touched with the feeling of our infirmities. …
I. HE IS THE APPOINTED MEDIATOR. "All things are delivered unto me of my Father." God, even the Father, your Creator, against whom you have transgressed, has appointed our Lord Jesus Christ to be the way of access for a sinner to himself. He is no amateur Saviour. He has not thrust himself into the place officiously. He is officially delegated. In times of distress, every man is at liberty to do his best for the public welfare; but the officer commissioned by his Sovereign is armed with a supreme right to give counsel or to exercise command. Away there in Bengal, if there are any dying of famine, and I have rice, I may distribute it of my own will at my own charge. But the commissioner of the district has a special warranty which I do not posses; he has a function to discharge; it is his business, his vocation; he is authorised by the Government, and responsible to the Government to do it. So the Lord Jesus Christ has not only a deep compassion of heart for the necessities of men, but he has God's authority to support him. The Father delivered all things into his hands, and appointed him to be a Saviour. All that Christ teaches has this superlative sanction. He teaches you nothing of his own conjecture. "What I have heard of the Father," he saith, "that reveal I unto you." The gospel is not a scheme of his suggestion. He reveals it fresh from the heart of God. Remember that the promises Christ makes are not merely his surmises, but they are promises with the stamp of the court of heaven upon them. Their truth is guaranteed by God. It is not possible they should fail. Sooner might heaven and earth pass away than one word of his fall flat to the ground. Your Saviour, O sinner—your only Saviour—is one whose teachings, whose invitations, and whose promises have the seal royal of the King of kings upon them. What more do you want? Moreover, the Father has given all things into his hands in the sense of government. Christ is king everywhere. God has appointed Christ to be a mediatorial prince over all of us—I say over us all—not merely over those who accept his sovereignty, but even over the ungodly. He hath given him power over all flesh, that he may give eternal life to as many as he has given him. It is of no use your rebelling against Christ, and saying, "We will not have him"—the old cry, "We will not have this man to reign over us." How read ye in the second Psalm "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. "Christ is supreme. You will have either to submit to his sceptre willingly, or else to be broken by his iron rod like a potter's vessel. Which shall it be? Thou must either bow or be broken; make your choice. You must bend or break. God help you wisely to resolve and gratefully relent. Has the Father appointed Christ to stand between him and his sinful creatures? Has he put the government upon his shoulders, and given him a name called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty, the everlasting King? Is he Emmanuel, God with us, in God's stead? With what reverence are we bound to receive him! …
III. HOW IS THIS ADVICE PRESSED HOME UPON US? The vanity of any other course is made palpable. Be reconciled to God because there is no use in being at enmity with Him. The kings of the earth opposed God, but while they were plotting and planning, God was laughing. "Yet," says He, "have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion." I think if I were a king and had the misfortune to be driven to go to war, I would not like to fight one that had ten times my own strength! I would rather engage in a somewhat equal combat, with a prospect that by dint of valor and good generalship, victory might be gained. To contend against Omnipotence is insanity! For any man, I care not who he may be, to put himself in opposition to God is utter folly! I have often watched, as doubtless you have done, the foolish moth attracted by the glare of the candle or the gas. He plunges at it, as though he would put it out, and he drops, full of exquisite pain, upon the table. He has enough wing left to make another dash at the flame, and again he is filled with another pain, and unless you mercifully kill him outright, he will continue as long as he has any strength to fight with the fire which destroys him! That is an apt picture of the sinner's life—and such will be the sinner's death! Oh, do not so, dear Friend—do not so! Speak I not with voice of reason when I thus dissuade you? If you must fight, let it be with someone that you can overcome. But sit down now and reckon whether you can hope to win a victory against an Almighty God! End the quarrel, Man, for the quarrel will otherwise end in your death and eternal destruction! …