Meditation on the Text of the Week

Songs That Define the Kingdom

For though the Lord is exalted,
Yet He regards the lowly;
But the haughty He knows from afar.
Psalm 138:6

The Kingdom of God has many enduring and persistent themes. Our text reveals one of them. It pleases the Lord to lift up the eyes of His countenance upon the lowly, but to resist and hold at arms length those who are proud.

This theme is repeated throughout Scripture. Significantly, it is found at the portal to the coming of the Davidic kingdom, which is itself a quantum leap in redemptive history, both a foundation and a foreshadowing of the coming forth of the Son of Man Himself. The enduring realities and characteristics of God's Kingdom become apparent in the person and throne of David. These realities are all foreshadowed in the Song of Hannah in I Samuel 2:

The Lord makes poor and rich
He brings low, He also exalts,
He raises the poor from the dust,
He lifts the needy from the ash heap,
To make them sit with nobles
And inherit a seat of honour;

David epitomized this ideal, as did Hannah herself. Saul, the “blind alley king”, was raised up first by the Lord to teach us all the lesson: Saul looked the part of a king. He was tall, noble. He won the acclaim of the people because of regard for the countenance of men. Through a pair of Unbelieving glasses, Saul was the Man! Haughtiness and arrogance wrapped around him like a cloak. His faux-humility was a stench.

David, by contrast, was a nothing. Of a no-account family (following sheep was an ignoble occupation in Israel), he was despised and mocked by his brothers. It's not an honourable estate when one is disregarded by one's own brethren, who themselves are no accounts. David alludes to these realities in the “climax” of his kingdom, when the Lord declared He would make an eternal covenant with him. In response David says to the Lord: “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that Thou has brought me this far?” (II Samuel 7:18)

God's Kingdom breaks down the haughty and the proud, and lifts up the humble and the no-accounts. This central theme is picked up in another song, which also is sung by a woman, at the portal of the coming of He would would be called, Son of David. The Kingdom of God is announced by these words:

My soul exalts the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; . . . .
He has done mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
And has exalted those who were humble.
Luke 1: 46—55

An abiding characteristic of the Kingdom is that the Lord overturns those who are proud and arrogant, and raises up the humbled and the lowly. It is fitting that the songs of these two poor and humbled women reveal how His Kingdom will come.

The King Himself epitomized these realities. He was dirt poor, despised, slandered, hated, and rejected. But the Lord raised Him up and exalted Him, giving Him a Name which is above every name. Furthermore, the King Himself hammered these truths home constantly. He proclaimed that it was the poor in spirit and those who mourn who would be blessed. He was not interested in those who thought themselves well and healthy; He had come for those who knew themselves to be sick and in need of a physician.

He contrasted absolutely His Kingdom with the kingdoms of this world. The Gentiles, He said, lift themselves up against others. A defining characteristic of “gentileness” was an arrogant lording it over one another, of little Napoleons seeking glory, fame, and honour, oppressing people of every hand to convince themselves that they had been successful in their quest. Our King warns of those who “have their reward in this life” for the Kingdom has passed them by. He insisted that the greatest among us would be those who are the servants of all. He peremptorily rejected the disciples arrogant debates as to who would be the greater in the Kingdom. He rebuked them sharply, and would have none of it. It was Gentile talk. He put a child in their midst as the exemplar of the Kingdom. If you would be in the Kingdom, He said, you would have to be like this little child.

Now, of course, this has been perverted by the City of Unbelief, amongst whom the Marxists have attempted to claim that righteousness has to do with economic and social class. The poor are intrinsically good; the rich are evil, they say. Now, like all Satan's assertions this is a half-truth. In the cities of Unbelief—in “Gentileland”—one could only become great by oppression, exploitation and evil deeds. As their own wise men say, you can only make an omelette by breaking a few eggs.

It is also true that the poor and the needy are often hungry for the Gospel—for they know their neediness; their life of suffering has made them long for the Gospel. Just as there are few atheists in the fox-holes at the front line, so there are few amongst the poor and wretched of the earth who will not listen eagerly to the invitation to come to Christ and be saved. But in these cases, the poverty and lowliness has become a means of grace. It has not made the poor righteous. It has only highlighted their own sense of unworthiness and need.

Above all, it pleases the Lord to lift up the nothings-of-this-world for the greater glory of His own Name. It increases His fame and renown. It leads His people to exult in Him and declare that He has done all things well.

But as the Kingdom comes and takes greater and greater hold over “Gentileland” a strange thing happens: according to our text, the kings of the earth will no longer be avatars of arrogance and pride. Rather, they will be true sons of the Kingdom itself. They will be clothed with humility before God.

All the kings of the earth will give thanks to Thee, O Lord,
When they have heard the words of Thy mouth.
And they will sing of the ways of the Lord.
For great is the glory of the Lord.
Psalm 138: 4—5

The kings of the earth, having been themselves raised up and become great through the greatness of their service and servanthood, will themselves glorify God Who has regarded the lowly. In such things the glory of the Kingdom resides. Even so, maranatha. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.