The Center of God's Purposes

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Christ is the center of everything with God. His present place is in the midst of the assembly. There He leads the song of praise to God (Heb. 2:1212Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. (Hebrews 2:12)). The consciousness of His presence brings blessing to those gathered, and it is His presence that gives power and validity to their acts. “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt 18:20). In the coming kingdom age, He will take the place in the midst of “the great congregation” (Psalm 22:2525My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. (Psalm 22:25)). This means the nations and their kings, all happily submissive to His sway and all blessed according to the earthly counsels of a gracious God. “All the kings of the earth shall praise Thee, O the Lord, when they hear the words of Thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord” (Psalm 138:4-54All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth. 5Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord. (Psalm 138:4‑5)). In a yet higher sphere, He will be seen as the Lamb in the midst of the throne, with elders and living creatures gazing in wonder at the glorious sight, and giving utterance to the new song of redemption through His blood (Rev. 5). Thus will a righteous God give due recompense, both above and below, to Him who once was willing, in His fathomless grace, to hang between two thieves upon Calvary's tree. He who was the central Object on that day of shame will be the central Object in both heavenly and earthly glories in the ages that are yet to come.
“Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward” (1 Sam. 16:1313Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. (1 Samuel 16:13)). From the gracious reader of Isaiah's prophecy in the synagogue of Nazareth, we hear the words, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me” (Luke 4:1818The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18)). Others besides Himself may experience the anointing of the Spirit (1 John 2:2727But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:27)), but in this, as in everything else, He must have the pre-eminence; “therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows” (Heb. 1:99Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Hebrews 1:9)).
David, although anointed, did not forthwith ascend the throne of Israel, but like the One of whom he was both the progenitor and the type, he must needs first pass through the bitter ordeal of years of suffering and rejection. In God's time, the man of the people's carnal choice was overthrown, and the man after God's own heart was exalted. In like manner, God has His set time for the kingdoms of this world to pass into the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. The need for this mighty revolution becomes increasingly apparent to observant eyes. The world's agony deepens every hour.