ix. 6. _The government shall be on His shoulder, &c._
Let me caution you against mistaking this government for that
essential dominion which belongeth to our blessed Lord as God. To
suppose that this had been _given_ to our Lord would be to deny His
essential Godhead. The government here spoken of is one that He
receives: a delegated government as the Mediator of the covenant:
that which we are told (1 Cor. xv. 24-28) He will hereafter deliver
up to the Father. Three particulars we may point out, in which He
exercises this dominion. I. He rules _for_ His Church, as "The Lamb
in the midst of the throne." II. He rules _in_ His Church, being its
alone King and Lawgiver. The Church is never for one moment to assume
the power of legislation; it belongs not to her, but to Him: _she_
has the executive--nothing more--to obey His laws, to carry them out
according to the mind of Him who framed them. III. There is a third
power--that which He exercises in the souls of His true subjects,
ruling in and over them by the power of His own blessed
Spirit.--_J. H. Evans, M.A.: Thursday Penny Pulpit,_ vol. vii. p 337.
In this verse we have a constellation of titles, all of which
illustrate the essential dignity and mediatorial claims of Jesus, and
tend to awaken the confidence of the Church. The very first
declaration, His "name shall be called Wonderful," fitly prepares us
for all that is to follow, teaching us to expect something beyond the
ordinary works of God. He is "wonderful" in His incarnation, in His
government, in the counsels He originates, in the divinity of His
nature, in the eternity of His existence, in the results of His
mediatorial rule, for He is "the Prince of Peace," swaying the
sceptre of mercy over an apostate and disordered world. There is a
beautiful consistency in all this; for if the government of earth and
heaven, the sovereignty of the Church and of the world, is to be
exercised by the Redeemer, it is necessary that He should be
possessed of attributes equal to the immense responsibilities. But
these attributes are His, and hence the command, "Rejoice, for the
Lord reigneth!" +I. It is a cause of peculiar rejoicing to all good
men that the government of the world is in the hands of Christ.+
Their interest and joy in this fact arise--1. From the near and
sacred relation in which Jesus stands to them. 2. From the glorious
perfectness of His character, which guarantees the wisdom and
blessedness of His sway. 3. From the changelessness, perpetuity, and
destined universality of His rule. +II. The sovereignty of Christ
affords great relief in contemplating the abject condition of the
heathen world.+ The heathen have been given to Him for His
inheritance, and He will certainly deliver them from the
superstitions and miseries by which they are oppressed. +III. This
fact gives us a deep interest in beholding the vast extent of the
universe of God.+ Every part of it is but a province in Christ's
boundless empire.--_Samuel Thodey._