'Thy throne, O God! is for ever and ever.' This is not the place nor
time to enter on the discussion of the difficulties of these words. I
must run the risk of appearing to state confident opinions without
assigning reasons, when I venture to say that the translation in the
Authorised Version is the natural one. I do not say that others have
been adopted by reason of doctrinal prepossessions; I know nothing about
that; but I do say that they are not by any means so natural a
translation as that which stands before us. What it may mean is another
matter; but the plain rendering of the words, I venture to assert, is
what our English Bible makes it--'Thy throne, O God! is for ever and
ever.'
Then it is to be remembered that, throughout the Old Testament, we have
occasional instances of the use of that great and solemn designation in
reference to persons in such place and authority as that they are
representatives of God. So kings and judges and lawyers and the like are
spoken of more than once. Therefore there is not, in the language,
translated as in our English Bible, necessarily the implication of the
unique divinity of the persons so addressed. But I take it that this is
an instance in which the prophet was 'wiser than he knew,' and in which
you and I understand him better than he understood himself, and know
what God, who spoke through him, meant, whatsoever the prophet, through
whom He spoke, did mean. That is to say, I take the words before us as
directly referring to Jesus Christ, and as directly declaring the
divinity of His person, and therefore the eternity of His kingdom.
We live in days when that perpetual sovereignty is being questioned. In
a revolutionary time like this it is well for Christian people, seeing
so many venerable things going, to tighten their grasp upon the
conviction that, whatever goes, Christ's kingdom will not go; and that,
whatever may be shaken by any storms, the foundation of His Throne
stands fast. For our personal lives, and for the great hopes of the
future beyond the grave, it is all-important that we should grasp, as an
elementary conviction of our faith, the belief in the perpetual rule of
that Saviour whose rule is life and peace. In the great mosque of
Damascus, which was a Christian church once, there may still be read,
deeply cut in the stone, high above the pavement where now Mohammedans
bow, these words, 'Thy kingdom, O Christ! is an everlasting kingdom.' It
is true, and it shall yet be known that He is for ever and ever the
Monarch of the world.
Then, again, this royalty is a royalty of righteousness. 'The sceptre of
Thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest
wickedness.' His rule is no arbitrary sway, His rod is no rod of iron
and tyrannical oppression, His own personal character is righteousness.
Righteousness is the very life-blood and animating principle of His
rule. He loves righteousness, and, therefore, puts His broad shield of
protection over all who love it and seek after it. He hates wickedness,
and therefore He wars against it wherever it is, and seeks to draw men
out of it. And thus His kingdom is the hope of the world.
And, lastly, this dominion of perennial righteousness is the dominion of
unparalleled gladness. 'Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee
with the oil of joy above Thy fellows.' Set side by side with that the
other words, 'A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.' And remember
how, near the very darkest hour of the Lord's earthly experiences, He
said:--'These things have I spoken unto you that My joy may remain in
you, and that your joy may be full.' Christ's gladness flowed from
Christ's righteousness. Because His pure humanity was ever in touch with
God, and in conscious obedience to Him, therefore, though darkness was
around, there was light within. He was 'sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing,' and the saddest of men was likewise the gladdest, and
possessed 'the oil of joy above His fellows.'
Brother! that kingdom is offered to us; participation in that joy of our
Lord may belong to each of us. He rules that He may make us like
Himself, lovers of righteousness, and so, like Himself, possessors of
unfading joy. Make Him your King, let His arrow reach your heart, bow in
submission to His power, take for your very life His words of
graciousness, lovingly gaze upon His beauty till some reflection of it
shall shine from you, fight by His side with strength drawn from Him
alone, own and adore Him as the enthroned God-man, Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. Crown Him with the many crowns of supreme trust, heart-whole
love, and glad obedience. So shall you be honoured to share in His
warfare and triumph. So shall you have a throne close to His and eternal
as it. So shall His sceptre be graciously stretched out to you to give
you access with boldness to the presence-chamber of the King. So shall
He give you too, 'the oil of joy for mourning,' even in the 'valley of
weeping,' and the fulness of His gladness for evermore, when He sets you
at His right hand.