The King is held in the galleries.
The King is held in the galleries
Christ, the blessed King of Zion, condescends sometimes to be held and detained by His people in the galleries of Gospel-ordinances.
I. I will give some account of this royal King.
1. That he is a King appears from these particulars.
(1) From the Father’s designation and ordination.
(2) From the prophecies that went of Him before His actual manifestation in our nature (Genesis 49:10; Luke 1:32-33; Psalms 132:11; Isaiah 9:6).
(3) From the types and shadows that prefigured Him. He was typified by Melchizedek, who is called “the King of righteousness and the King of peace; by David; and by Solomon.
(4) From the princely titles that are given Him in Scripture. He is called “the Prince of peace, the King of righteousness, and the King of kings and Lord of lords”; and it is God the Father’s will that “every one should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord.”
(5) From the princely prerogatives and royalties that are assigned Him by His Father (Psalms 89:20).
2. As He is a King, so He is the King by way of eminency and excellency.
(1) He is the King eternal (1 Timothy 1:17; Isaiah 9:6).
(2) He is called the King immortal (1 Timothy 1:17).
(3) He is the King invisible (1 Timothy 6:16).
(4) He is the only blessed and happy King (1 Timothy 6:15).
(5) He is the absolute and universal King. His kingdom is universal in respect of all persons, places, times.
II. The galleries wherein this royal King trysts and keeps company with His people.
1. I will only mention these few galleries.
(1) There is the secret gallery of meditation, wherein David found God s “lovingkindness to be better than life,” and had his “soul satisfied as with marrow and fatness.”
(2) There is the gallery of prayer, wherein Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Covenant, and, like a prince, prevailed for the blessing.
(3) There is a gallery of reading of the Scriptures, wherein the Ethiopian eunuch got such a discovery of the promised Messiah as made him “go on his way rejoicing.”
(4) There is a gallery of Christian converse anent soul-matters; wherein the disciples going to Emmaus had such a meeting with Christ as made “their hearts burn within them.”
(5) There is the gallery of preaching, or of hearing of the Word preached; “by, the foolishness of which God sayeth them that believed.” Here it was that Lydia s heart was opened.
(6) The Sacraments of the New Testament, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, are galleries wherein Zion s King displays His glory before His people.
2. Why are these ordinances compared to galleries?
(1) Galleries are magnificent apartments of royal and stately buildings. So there is a Divine magnificence in the ordinances of the Gospel when countenanced with the presence of the great Master of assemblies.
(2) Galleries are lightsome and pleasant apartments. O how pleasant and lightsome are ordinances to a gracious soul!
(3) Galleries are places of walk and converse, as is plain from. Ezekiel 41:15. So it is in Gospel-ordinances that Christ doth walk and converse with His people.
(4) Galleries are places of public feasting and entertainment of friends. So it is in the mount of Gospel-ordinances that the Lord has provided for His people “a feast of fat things,” etc.
III. The holding of the King in the galleries.
1. What does it suppose and imply on the believer’s part?
(1) It necessarily supposes a meeting with Christ in the galleries; for no person can hold that which they never had.
(2) It supposes a high esteem of Christ, a love to, and liking of, His company.
(3) On the believer s part, this holding of Christ supposes a fear of losing Him or of being deprived of His company.
(4) It supposes a seeming willingness in Christ to withdraw from His people after their sweetest enjoyments.
(5) It implies a holy solicitude, and earnest desire of soul, to have His presence continued.
(6) It implies an ardent breathing of soul after more and more nearness to Christ, and further discoveries of Him.
(7) It implies a firm resolution not to part with His company.
(8) It implies a cleaving or adhering to Christ with the whole strength and vigour of the soul. How, or wherein does the soul put forth its strength in cleaving to Christ? I answer, it does it by these three especially.
(i.) By the lively exercise of faith. Hence faith is called an apprehending of Christ, and a cleaving to Him.
(ii.) The soul binds or holds Christ in the galleries by sincere and ardent love.
(iii.) The soul cleaves to Christ by fervent and ardent prayer.
2. What does it imply on Christ’s part?
(1) It implies amazing grace and condescendency toward the work of His own hands.
(2) It implies Christ’s great delight in the society of His people.
(3) It implies that there are certain cords which have a constraining power to stay Him in His people’s company: and sure they must be strong cords indeed wherewith Omnipotency is bound.
(i.) He is bound by the cord of His own faithfulness, which He has laid in pawn in the promise.
(ii.) He is bound in the galleries by the cord of His own love.
(iii.) He is bound to them by the bond of marriage.
IV. The application of the doctrine.
1. The first use is of information. Is it so that Zion’s King is sometimes held in the galleries of Gospel-ordinances? Then,
(1) See hence the happiness and dignity of the saints of God beyond the rest of the world.
(2) See hence why the saints put such a value and estimate on Gospel-ordinances.
2. By way of trial and examination. You have been in the galleries of the King of Zion; but that is not enough: and therefore let me ask, Have you been in the galleries with the King? and have you been holding the King in the galleries?
(1) What did you hear in the galleries? what said the King unto you?
(2) What did you see in the galleries? Many sights are to be seen in the galleries of ordinances, and particularly in that of the Lord’s Supper. Here the Lamb of God is to be seen, “which taketh away the sin of the world,” and in a crucified Christ, who is evidently set forth in that ordinance, all the Divine attributes and perfections shine with a greater lustre than in the large volume of the creation.
(3) What have you tasted in the galleries? for galleries are for feasting and entertainment of friends. Now, did the King say to you, or is He yet saying it, “Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved”? Did He make you to eat of the fatness of His house, and to drink of the rivers of His pleasures?
3. Use third may be in a short word directed to two or three sorts of persons.
(1) To you who know nothing of this doctrine, never met with the King in the galleries.
(2) To you who have had a comfortable meeting with Him.
(3) To those who perhaps are complaining, “I sought Him, but I found Him not.” (E. Erskine.)