Humiliation and Glory of Christ.
ONCE was there a man on the earth who had the form of 'a servant,' and was 'without any comliness for which he might be desired.' That was Jesus! But he has dipped his raiment in the sun, and is clothed with his royal garments down to the feet.' Once a mob surrounded a helpless prisoner, and cried 'Crucify, crucify!' That was Jesus! But now 'every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' Once they took a man, and plaited a fillet of sharp thorns for his diadem, and pressed it cruelly upon his temples. That was Jesus! But 'on his head now are many crowns.' Once they hung a man upon a cross, and great was his shame, and awful his agony. That was Jesus! But now, 'honor and majesty are before him—strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.' Once a man went down, not merely to the grave, but 'descended into the lower parts of the earth.' That was Jesus! But now 'he has ascended up, far above all heavens that he might fill all things.' At Isaiah's date, Jesus, it is true, had neither been manifested nor slain—far less exalted. Nevertheless, the vision anticipates all events connected with him; and, conducting us amid the heavens after that the Son of God has returned thither, shows us the man of grief and conflict, now the 'only potentate.' Our Lord has been to earth—has been to Bethlehem—in the wilderness—in the garden—on the cross!—but in the very flesh in which he contended and vanquished, has he entered again within the veil, to 'reign before his ancients gloriously!' What a Saviour, then, is our Saviour! 'His visage was so marred—more than any man—and his form more than the sons of men;' but 'behold my servant he has prospered, and so shall be exalted, and extolled and be very high.' Men and brethren, look and wonder! The green earth lying under the rays of evening, is beautiful—the still waters, gliding in sweet murmurs to the deep, are pleasant—the stars at midnight are glorious in their very silence—what more bright or sublime than the sun when it prepares to run, like a bridegroom, its race? Yet in all these 'there is no beauty, no sweetness, no lustre compared to what beams forth from the man Christ Jesus 'sitting on his throne!' Most lovely is the world to you—most excellent all the world contains;—how ever on you lies! how near your heart! But oh! if once the soul has had a view of Christ in his gloriousness, there only will its eye rest. There, in one surpassing beam, blaze all the rays of the infinite, supreme, eternal, holy Godhead; and we cannot help exclaiming with David. 'O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who hath set thy glory above the heavens.'