1. He is in person and character pre-eminent-above all others even of the saintliest, and wisest, and noblest.

2. To each believer He is a King to be obeyed. When His blood cleanses us, His love rules us.

3. He is King in the midst of His Church. Secular courts have no authority in the Kingdom of Jesus.

4. He will be seen to be King in the day of His second advent.

II. HIS ROYAL CHARACTER.

1. Was there ever such a Prince as our Emmanuel, if we think of His person, His pedigree, His descent, His nature? This King of ours is not only the flower and crown of manhood, but He is also very God of very God. He is God over all, blessed for ever: the Son of the Highest.

2. His deeds of love to us.

3. His glorious achievements.

4. The principles of His government. They are fountains of peace and purity.

III. THE BENEFITS OF HIS REIGN.

1. He is the Creator of His own empire. Each one of us must own for himself, and all of us together unitedly, that He hath made us, and not we ourselves; by His sovereign grace He has chosen, and redeemed, and called, and sanctified us, therefore will we be joyful in Him.

2. While our King has created His own kingdom, He has also sanctified and sustained that kingdom. Let the streams rejoice in the fountain, let the walls of the temple be joyful in the foundation.

3. It is He who has saved us and given us peace.

4. Is there anything that is needful which He has not given? Is there anything that is good that He has withheld? Have we any virtue? have we any praise? Then not unto us, not unto us, but unto His name be the glory. Nor is it alone in the past and in the present that we are debtors; we look forward to a future of obligations.

IV. LET US BE JOYFUL IN THE CONTINUANCE OF THE REDEEMER'S REIGN.

1. The ages past have not taken away from the length of His reign.

2. The age of our King has not enfeebled Him.

3. As to His Kingdom, there is no fear of its failing.

V. LET US OBEY HIM WITH DELIGHT. Let us take into our hands a duty and a thanksgiving, a precept and a praise. Let us make up our whole life of the intertwisting of duty and delight. Let us be holy and happy. Let us turn obedience into gladness. That which else were drudgery we will exalt to a priestly sacrificing as we serve the Lord with gladness and rejoice before Him.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. IT IS PECULIAR TO A CERTAIN PEOPLE. "Let the children of Zion be joyful," etc. No others can be. But ye children of Zion, be thus joyful —

1. Because of your loyalty. Ye delight to think that "the Lord reigneth." But we are also —

2. Attached to His Person. It is not merely His throne, but Himself, that is dear to us. When any thus rejoice they sink themselves in Him, and this heightens our joy. And so does the admiration we feel for Him.

II. THIS JOY HAS A MOST PROPER OBJECT. For we should rejoice to be ruled by Him, and that He is Lord of all, and that His power is so great, and His glory likewise. The old poem of one of our writers sings of the "Man of Ross," and declares that every good thing in the town is owing to him and his benevolence. So that if you asked, "Who built this fountain?" or, "Who founded yonder school?" the one answer was, "The Man of Ross." So surely if you ask us concerning our privileges, our hopes, yea, the vast all that we possess, our answer is, "We owe them all to our King." Therefore let us be joyful in Him.

III. THIS JOY IS PERMANENT IN ITS SOURCE. Everything here below is uncertain. Many are the reasons for our disquietude. Nevertheless let us be joyful in our King. Yes, though ministers and Church members fall off from true doctrine; though there be many backsliding Christians, and so few zealous and really Christlike; though our own hearts be so cold, our prayers so unworthy, our work so scanty and our fruit so rare. Your bottle, like Hagar's, may be dry, but yonder is the well of water which never can fail you. And when you come to die, then will he the time to be more than ever joyful in your King.

IV. THIS JOY HAS CERTAIN OCCASIONS FOR ITS MORE ESPECIAL DISPLAY. When does a nation rejoice in its king? At his coronation. So, when Christ was crowned in our souls. At the royal marriage. So, when Christ united us to Himself. When peace is proclaimed after war. So, when peace was made in and for our souls. At victories. When He keeps His jubilee. On his levee days, when He receives His friends.

V. AND THIS JOY IS SURE TO HAVE PRACTICAL RESULTS. An Eastern merchant of great wealth had in his employ a workman of great skill and genius in all works of art. But by some means this workman had fallen deeply into debt, and was sinking deeper day by day. He grew more and more depressed, and as he sank in spirit his old skill and power declined with it. Each product of his hand revealed less power. Meanwhile his creditor became more and more exacting, and at last threatened to sell the poor man's children as slaves, according to the law of the land, unless he was paid his debt. This weighed yet more heavily upon the poor man's soul, and his work was worse and worse. At length the merchant inquired of his steward how it was that this workman, once so renowned, was now producing nothing worthy of his former fame. "No masterpieces come from him now, and our name suffers in the market and in the esteem of the merchants. How is all this?" "My lord," said the steward, "he is daily of a sorrowful countenance and forgets to eat bread. He keeps a long and cruel fast, for he is drowned in debt and that to a cruel creditor, and his soul pines like the heath of the desert, and therefore his hand is slow as that of an herdsman, and his eye dull as that of the owl in sunlight. And this is why his hand hath forgot all its wonted cunning." "Send for him, bring him hither," said his lord. He came. His lord told him that his debt should be all paid, and he and his set free. How that man worked afterwards!

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

     5830   delight

Psalm 149:2-5

     8288   joy, of Israel

The Millennium in Relation to Sin.
In spite of the fact that Satan will have been removed from the earth, and that Christ reigns in person over it, yet conditions here will not be perfect even in the Millennium. Unregenerate human nature will remain unchanged. Sin will still be present, though much of its outward manifestation will be restrained. Discontent and wickedness will not be eradicated from the hearts of men, but will be kept beneath the surface by means of the Iron Rod. Multitudes will yield to Christ nothing but a "feigned …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

St. Malachy's Apostolic Labours, Praises and Miracles.
[Sidenote: 1140, October] 42. (23). Malachy embarked in a ship, and after a prosperous voyage landed at his monastery of Bangor,[576] so that his first sons might receive the first benefit.[577] In what state of mind do you suppose they were when they received their father--and such a father--in good health from so long a journey? No wonder if their whole heart gave itself over to joy at his return, when swift rumour soon brought incredible gladness even to the tribes[578] outside round about them. …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

Wisdom and Revelation.
"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament