them. So that the whole anticipation and forward look of the Old
Testament system is gathered into and expressed by almost its last
words, which prophesy that 'the Lord shall suddenly come to His Temple,'
and that once again this King of Glory shall stand before the
everlasting gates and summon them to open.

And when was that fulfilled? Fulfilled in a fashion that at first sight
seems the greatest contrast to all this vision of grandeur, of warlike
strength, of imperial power and rule with which we have been dealing;
but which yet was not the contrast to these ideas so much as the highest
embodiment of them. For, although at first sight it seems as if there
could be no greater contrast than between the lion might of the Jehovah
of the Old Testament, and the lamb gentleness of the Jesus of the New,
if we look more closely we shall see that it is not a relation of
contrast that exists between the two. Christ is all, and more than all,
that this psalm proclaimed the Jehovah of the Old Covenant to be. Let us
look again from that point of view at the particulars already referred
to.

He is the highest manifestation of the divine rule and authority. There
is no dominion like the dominion of the loving Christ, a kingdom based
upon suffering and wielded in gentleness, a kingdom of which the crown
is a wreath of thorns, and the sceptre a rod of reed; a dominion which
is all exercised for the blessing of its subjects, and which, therefore,
is an everlasting dominion. There is no rule like that; no height of
divine authority towers so high as the authority of Him who rules us so
absolutely because He gave Himself for us utterly. This is the King, the
Prince of the kings of the earth, because this is the Incarnate God who
died for us.