the combined power of "the adversaries of Jehovah," who "shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall He thunder upon them:" for " Jehovah shall judge the ends of the earth; and He shall give strength unto His King, and exalt the horn of his anointed," i.e., Messiah-" yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion." This was the promise referred to by "the Angel Gabriel," when he "was sent from God" to the Virgin Mary, "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His Name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Israel for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." And this promise will then of course be fulfilled. For "it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high," i.e., Satan and his hosts, now in the heavenlies,3 3" and the kings of the earth upon the earth," as we have seen. "And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison," i.e., of Hades, "and after many days," i.e., 1,000 years," shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when Jehovah of Hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously." For as I have shewn in my first book of "Outlines," as our Lord Jesus was "born King of the Jews," was crucified, as King of the Jews, and rose again from the dead, as King of the Jews: so must He come again to reign as King of the Jews, as it is here predicted.

Hence the Psalm proceeds, "I will declare the decree: Jehovah hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee." Now this passage is quoted several times in the New Testament, in proof of the prediction of Christ's resurrection from the dead: for He "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be

1 1 Sam. ii. 10.
2 Luke i. 31-33.
4 Rev. xx. 1-3, 7-15.

3

Eph. ii. 2; vi. 12.

5 Isaiah xxiv. 21-23.

the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." And so in the Acts of the Apostles we read, that when Paul was preaching at Antioch in Pisidia, he thus addressed the "children of the stock of Abraham," "And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee."2 And again this same Apostle says to his son Timothy, "Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead by my Gospel." Now the reference to this Psalm, and to Christ, as the son of David in connexion therewith, in these passages of Scripture, can only mean that Christ was to take the throne of David, according to the Covenant made with David, as in Psalm lxxxix. 19-37, compared with Isa. lv. 3-5; Acts xiii. 34, &c. Hence as Christ must have died, so must He of necessity have risen again; in order that He might take possession of David's throne at His second coming. Therefore they all connect Christ's resurrection, as this Psalm also does, with the fact of His being the Son of David, and the heir to his throne.1

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Hence the Psalm again proceeds, "Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the Gentiles for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost part of the earth for Thy possession:" for His "dominion" is to be "from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.' The time when this promise was made to Christ was, as we see, at His resurrection: but the time of His asking for the fulfilment of it, is fixed as we learn from the prophet Daniel, at a period immediately preceding the close of this Dispensation: when, "because of the great words which the horn," or Antichrist "spake "for "he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to

2 Acts xiii. 14, 16, 26, 32, 33.

1 Rom. i. 3, 4. 3 2 Tim. ii. 8. * See also Isaiah ix. 6, 7; Jer. xxiii. 5, 6; Ezekiel xxi. 25-27. 5 Psalm lxxii. 8.

blaspheme His Name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven"-the " dominion" that had been entrusted to the Gentiles will then be taken away from them, and given to Christ Jesus Himself: who now comes again to take possession of His rightful inheritance. And this asking, not only precedes His second Advent, but of course precedes also the vengeance which He executes upon His adversaries, which is taken up again in the next verse, "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." And that this prediction refers to Christ's judgment upon the nations at His second coming, He Himself has assured us from heaven: for when speaking "unto the angel of the church in Thyatira," He says, "He that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of My Father." And indeed it is elsewhere also predicted that His people shall be associated with Him in these judgments; as for instance, in such passages as the following, "Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their couches. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the Gentiles, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all His saints."3 For "know ye not," says the apostle, "that we shall judge angels? "4 "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith Jehovah of Hosts."

And then the Psalm concludes with a solemn warning to the "Kings" and "judges of the earth" to "be instructed" by God; and to "kiss the Son," or, in other words to

1 Rev. xiii. 6.

4 1 Cor. vi. 3.

Rev. ii. 18, 26, 27. 5 Rom. xvi. 20.

3 Psalm cxlix. 5-9.
6 Mal. iv. 3.

submit to Him as Ruler, Saviour and King:1 or they would perish" everlastingly: while those who do "put their trust in Him" are pronounced "blessed."

SECTION II.

The purpose of God, that the Gospel should be preached to every creature ; resulting in the second coming of the Lord to judgment-an Exposition of Psalm 1.

The second passage I have to refer to is Psalm 1.; in the first verse of which we have revealed to us that, notwithstanding God's attitude towards the rejectors of His Christ, it is nevertheless His purpose, that in this Dispensation the Gospel should be preached to every creature: for there we read, that "the Mighty God, even Jehovah hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof"-a passage which relates exclusively to this Dispensation: neither will the Dispensation itself close, until the above revealed purpose of God has been accomplished: for our Lord has told us, that "this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."2 And then the Psalm immediately takes up the second coming of the Lord to judgment; and furnishes us with a brief prophetic outline of that period, and of some of the events which are consequent thereupon.

That the glorious Being here spoken of is Jehovah Jesus is clear; (1) Because we have here two of His names, or titles, expressly applied to Him, "The Mighty God," and "Jehovah," or "the Lord." For when Isaiah prophesied of His first coming, he heralded forth His glorious titles in

1 See and compare Genesis xli. 39-43; 1 Sam. x. 1; 1 Kings xix. 18. 2 Mat. xxiv. 14.

the strain following, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given and the government shall be upon His shoulder and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." While in the Book of "The Revelation of Jesus Christ," we find Him thus addressing "the beloved Apostle," "Grace be unto you from. Him Which is," aπò ó ŵv, from the Being, or, Self-existent One, "and Which was, and Which is to come," ó épxóμevos, "the coming one 112 -2 phrase, which I have shewn, in my first Book of “Outlines," to be the exact equivalent of the word "Jehovah.” And the Apostle tells us, "that at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;" and that "every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."3 And (2) Because it is to Him that the judgment of the world hath been committed. For "God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man Whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." For " the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father.'

And the reason why these two titles are applied to our Blessed Lord on this occasion, is, because He is here pourtrayed as coming to exercise the power which was committed to Him; and to claim the authority with which He was entrusted as indeed we have it elsewhere expressly stated, "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the sovereignties," ai Baoıλeîaı, "of this world are become the sovereignties of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their

1 Isaiah ix. 6.
4 Acts xvii. 30, 31.

2 Rev. i. 4.

5 John v. 22, 23.

3 Phil. ii. 10, 11.
6 Mat. xxviii. 18.