Question 26c- What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?
“‘As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.'” – Psa 2:6 ESV
After he has laughed he shall speak; he needs not smite; the breath of his lips is enough. At the moment when their power is at its height, and their fury most violent, then shall his Word go forth against them. And what is it that he says?—it is a very galling sentence— ‘Yet,’ says he, “despite your malice, despite your tumultuous gatherings, despite the wisdom of your counsels, despite the craft of your lawgivers,
‘yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion’.” Is not that a grand exclamation! He has already done that which the enemy seeks to prevent. While they are proposing, he has disposed the matter. Jehovah’s will is done, and man’s will frets and raves in vain. God’s Anointed is appointed, and shall not be disappointed. Look back through all the ages of infidelity, hearken to the high and hard things which men have spoken against the Most High, listen to the rolling thunder of earth’s volleys against the Majesty of heaven, and then think that God is saying all the while, ‘Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.’
Yet Jesus reigns, yet he sees the travail of his soul, and “his unsuffering kingdom yet shall come” when he shall take unto himself his great power, and reign from the river unto the ends of the earth. Even now he reigns in Zion, and our glad lips sound forth the praises of the Prince of Peace. Greater conflicts may here be foretold, but we may be confident that victory will be given to our Lord and King. Glorious triumphs are yet to come; hasten them, we pray thee, O Lord! It is Zion’s glory and joy that her King is in her, guarding her from foes, and filling her with good things. Jesus sits upon the throne of grace, and the throne of power in the midst of his church. In him is Zion’s best safeguard; let her citizens be glad in him.
‘Thy walls are strength, and at thy gates A guard of heavenly warriors waits; Nor shall thy deep foundations move, Fixed on his counsels and his love.
Thy foes in vain designs engage; Against his throne in vain they rage, Like rising waves, with angry roar, That dash and die upon the shore.'” [Spurgeon]
“‘Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'” – Mat 21:5 ESV
Tell ye the daughter of Zion, These words seem to be taken out of Isa 62:11 where it is said, “say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold thy salvation cometh”, or “thy Saviour cometh”; meaning, without doubt, the Messiah: by the daughter of Zion is meant, not the city of Jerusalem, but the inhabitants thereof, the Jewish synagogue; or as the Targum renders it, דציון כנישתא, “the congregation of Zion”, the people of the Jews; particularly the elect of God among them, those that embraced the true Messiah, and believed in him:
behold, thy king cometh unto thee: this, and what follow, are cited from Zech 9:9 and to be understood of the king Messiah, who, in a little time after this prophecy was given out, was to come to Zion, and redeem Jacob from all his iniquities, and was now come. One of the Jewish commentators says, that interpreters are divided about the sense of this prophecy; but observes, that there are some that say this is the Messiah: and another of them affirms, that it is impossible to explain it of any other than the king Messiah; and that it can be understood of no other, I have elsewhere shown. “Meek”; in the prophecy of Zechariah it is, עני, “poor”, as the Messiah Jesus was, in a temporal sense; but the word, both by the Septuagint, and our evangelist, is rendered
meek; as it is by the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, who all explain it by ענותן, “lowly, humble, or meek”: and a character it is, that well agrees with Jesus, who, in the whole of his deportment, both in life and in death, was a pattern of meekness and lowliness of mind: and
sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass. This is applied to the Messiah by the Jews, both ancient and modern, who consider this as an instance and evidence of his humility: they suppose, this ass to be a very uncommon one, having an hundred spots on it; and say, that it was the foal of that which was created on the eve of the sabbath; and is the same that Abraham and Moses rode upon: and they own, as before observed, that Jesus of Nazareth rode on one to Jerusalem, as is here related. Their ancient governors, patriarchs, princes, and judges, used to ride on asses, before the introduction and multiplication of horses in Solomon’s time, forbidden by the law of God: wherefore, though this might seem mean and despicable at this present time, yet was suitable enough to Christ’s character as a king, and as the son of David, and king of Israel; strictly observing the law given to the kings of Israel, and riding in such manner as they formerly did. [Gill]
Answer – Christ as our Redeemer executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of king, both in His estate of humiliation and exaltation.
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