Theocracy

This was God’s declaration to Israel, meeting a great want, and saving the people from a great burden.

They were to be spared the expense and danger arising from a human monarch, and to find government and headship in God himself.

This did not content their unspiritual nature, and they desired a king, like the nations around them. By this desire they angered the Lord, and missed a great privilege.

To us the Lord presents the same privilege in a high spiritual sense, and if we are wise we shall accept it.

I. THE CRAVING OF NATURE. “Give me a king.”

We do not go into the political question of the right or wrong of monarchy in the abstract: that would be too vexed a discussion, and unsuitable for our present engagement. We are quite content with the form of government of our own land.

But we speak morally and spiritually of individual need.

Man was happy in the garden while God was his King; but when he became a rebel against the King of kings, he was forced to accept another lord.

“Give me a king” is—

1. The cry of weakness. Man needs someone to look up to.

2. The sigh of distress. In straits he sighs for the wise and the strong to counsel and support him.

3. The prayer of thoughtfulness.

   • Anarchy of soul is terrible; each passion fights for mastery.
   • A kingless, aimless life is misery. Idleness is hard work: the purposeless are unhappy.
   • King Self is a poor, mean, despicable despot, foolish and feeble.
   • The World is a cruel and ungrateful master.

4. The desire of experience.

   • Folly proved makes us desire a Lawgiver.
   • Danger felt makes us long for a Protector.
   • Responsibility weighing upon us makes us sigh for a Superior, who will undertake to choose our way, and direct us in it.

II. THE ROYAL ANSWER OF GRACE. “I will be your King.”

1. Eminently condescending. Our God comes to rule over—

   • A ruined, bankrupt, desolated realm.
   • Torn to pieces by contending pretenders.
   • Surrounded by mighty and relentless enemies.
   • Full of unruly members.
   • Nothing but infinite love could prompt him to assume such a throne, or to wear a crown which cost him so dear. “Behold your King!”

2. Abundantly satisfactory; for—

   • He has power to subdue every inward rebel.
   • He has a character worthy of dominion. It is a great honor to submit to such a Prince.
   • He has more than the wisdom of Solomon to arrange every matter.
   • He has goodness to bless, and he is as ready as he is able to make his reign a period of happiness, peace, and prosperity.
   • He has love with which to command affectionate obedience.

3. Infinitely consoling—

   • To be protected by his omnipotence.
   • To be ruled by absolute perfection.
   • To be governed by a King who can neither be defeated, nor die, nor abdicate, nor change.
   • To find in God far more of greatness and goodness than could be dreamed of as existing in the best of earthly sovereigns.

4. Gloriously inspiring—

   • To live and die for such a Leader.
   • To claim possession of human hearts for such a Benefactor.
   • To have such an Example for obedient imitation.
   • To be forever linked with a Potentate so majestic.

III. THE DELIGHT OF LOYALTY. Our answer to the promise of the text is this—“You are my King, O God”: Psalm 44:4.

If we unreservedly accept our King—

1. We look to see and share his glory before long. Isaiah 33:17.

2. We expect present deliverances. Psalm 44:4.

3. We repose in delicious confidence in the wisdom, goodness, and immutability of all his arrangements.

4. We seek to extend his dominions. Matthew 6:10.

5. We glory in his name with unspeakable delight. His history is our meditation, his promise is our sustentation, his honors are our glory, and his person is our adoration. His throne is our haven and our Heaven. He, himself, is all our salvation, and all our desire. 2 Samuel 23:5.

Pleas For Homage

Is Jesus in very deed and truth my King? Where is the proof of it? Am I living in his kingdom of “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” now? (Romans 14:17.) Am I speaking the language of that kingdom? Am I following “the customs of the people” (Jeremiah 10:3) which are not his people? or, do I “diligently learn the ways of his people”? (Jeremiah 12:16.) Am I practically living under the rule of his laws? Have I done heart-homage to him? Am I bravely and honestly upholding his cause, because it is his, not merely because those around me do so? Is my allegiance making any practical difference to my life to-day?—Miss Havergal.

God is the ultimate foundation of all human society; without him you can neither cement nor govern society. The mad attempt, if you remember, was made in France. The governing council decreed that there was no God. What was the result? Anarchy, confusion, license, bloodshed, terror. Robespierre, one of the leading spirits of the Revolution, had to declare to his comrades in conclave assembled, “If there be no God, we must make one—we cannot govern France without him.”—J. Cynddylan Jones.

What, then, shall we render for this inestimable favor, in taking us to be his subjects? Oh, let us offer him not only the tenths of our labors, but the first-fruits of our affections: let us open not only the doors of our lips, but the gates of our hearts, that the King of glory may come in. And when you vouchsafe, O my Lord, to come with your high majesty under my low roof; and to work a miracle, by having that greatness, which the world contains not, contained in a little corner of my breast; grant also to send your grace for the harbinger of your glory!

Possess me wholly, O my Sovereign! Reign in my body, by obedience to your laws; and in my soul, by confidence in your promises: frame my tongue to praise you, my knees to reverence you, my strength to serve you, my desires to covet you, and my heart to embrace thee.—Sir R. Baker, on “The Lord’s Prayer.”

The Lord in our text assumes the throne, not so much by the election of his subjects as by his election of them; and the act is not an ascent to a higher dignity than that which he naturally possesses, but a descent of love to a position which is for our gain rather than his own. He comes to us with this sweet willingness to reign over us, and it is our wisdom joyfully to accept the infinite privileges of his endless dominion.