JESUS CHRIST A CONQUEROR.
By H. Wren
It has not been uncommon for religious orators to portray in contrast the careers of the world’s great conquerors and that of Jesus Christ, and show how the former were inspired by ambition, discontent, revolution, and war, while the latter was instinct with “Peace on earth and good will toward men;” and then, by the power of the great contrast, persuade men to bear the yoke of “Him who was meek and lowly in heart.” And there is no injustice in such contrast to either the conquerors or to Christ, unless it fall below the truth. Cyrus, Alexander, Cæsar, Bonaparte, were turbulent, revolutionary characters, and an epoch of war revolved about each of them; while Jesus Christ was the Prince of peace. But, while this is all true, it is not all the truth; for it certainly can be shown that Jesus Christ is yet to appear upon the stage of this world in the capacity of a great and mighty conqueror. And as sure as Cyrus, Alexander, or Cæsar subdued the world by arms, so sure will Christ conquer it by force. This is the sublime teaching of the Holy Scriptures. And the second chapter of Daniel represents the fact by the collision of a stone and a great image. The stone represents Jesus Christ; or, which is virtually the same thing, the kingdom of which he is to be the head. The great image represents the dominion of this world as it has passed from conqueror to conqueror, and is now parcelled out among the different independent powers of the world. According to Daniel, the stone is to smite the image and break it to pieces. And in his interpretation, in verse 44, he says: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Two facts are plainly taught by this verse: 1. That the kingdom which the God of Heaven shall set up is to take the place of these other kingdoms; for it “consumes”162them; 2. That the substitution of the former in place of the latter will be by force; for the former is to “break the latter in pieces,” which can be done only by a forcible collision. That this kingdom to be set up by the God of Heaven is the kingdom of Christ, is evident from the seventh chapter of Daniel, where the same facts represented in Daniel 2 are represented by four beasts, and a kingdom which takes their dominion from them. In this seventh chapter it is plainly the kingdom of Christ that is mentioned; for the ceremony of his coronation is described in verses 13 and 14 in this language:— “I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” This coronation or investiture of Christ is the same thing as the “setting up” of the kingdom mentioned in the second chapter, an event which must, in the nature of the case, precede the establishment by Christ of this kingdom on the earth. For without a preceding gift of authority and title from God, he would have no right to invade this world and set a new kingdom on foot here. Accordingly, the verses just quoted give us a view of that celestial transaction between God and Christ in which the latter is clothed with full authority to assert regal power in the earth. When Christ again appears in this world it will be for the purpose of exercising the authority derived as above described. And his kingdom cannot be established in the earth until all others are removed; and the removal of earthly kingdoms will require an act of power sufficient for the purpose; and this exercise of power is described in Scripture, not in the gentle words of gospel persuasion, but in the unrelenting terms of war. As already seen, it is called “smiting,” “breaking in pieces,” and “consuming,” in the second chapter. The same thing is spoken of in Ps. 2: “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” In the nineteenth chapter of Revelation is a description of the manner in which Christ subjugates this world. In the eleventh and following verses John says:— “And I saw Heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in Heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Here, then, is Christ at the head of “armies” which he musters from the inhabitants of Heaven, ready to invade and destroy an apostate world. Read a few verses more of John’s description, and see how the haughty nations of earth melt away before this mighty host from the celestial world:— “And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth. And all the fowls were filled with their flesh.” Here are armies,—the armies of Heaven and their great Chieftain! Here is war between the armies of earth and the armies of Heaven! Here is victory complete for the King of kings and Lord of lords! Here is the conquest of this world! The same army is described in sublime terms in the second chapter of Joel. Joel says: “A great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth; the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks; neither shall one thrust another: they shall walk every one in his path; and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall; they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them: the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army, for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can abide it?” This is the dread spectacle yet to be witnessed by the inhabitants of earth. Surely, then, we are warranted in saying that Jesus Christ is yet to be a great conqueror; and not only this, but the last in a long line of world-wide conquerors,—a line, too, marked out in the prophetic word. Nebuchadnezzar headed the first empire at the time it became universal; Cyrus, the second; Alexander, the third; Cæsar, the fourth and last: Cæsar’s successor has not yet appeared. Charlemagne and Bonaparte aimed at world-wide empire; and now the Russian power has no less a prize in view. But the two former were not able, neither will the latter be able, to seize a scepter the prophetic word has assigned to another. That scepter waits to be grasped by Him “whose right it is;” and soon, we believe, the true successor in the prophetic line will appear to put down all earthly powers, and give Heaven opportunity to raise the cry: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.” H. WREN.