MANY Christians are uncommonly fond of singing about themselves. When the hymn, "Our Lord is now rejected" is given out, they join gladly and vociferously in the chorus:
"Oh, the crowning day is coming!
Is coming by-and-by!”
Ask them whose crowning day is coming, and with a look of surprise they will say, as if no other answer were conceivable, "Why, our crowning, of course!”
No one doubts that a crowning day is coming for the Christian. The day of reward and honor will surely follow the present time of reproach and suffering. A crown of righteousness awaits all who love the Lord's appearing. The persecuted saints at Smyrna were cheered with the promise: "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Rev. 2:1010Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)). The four-and-twenty elders of Rev. 4, representing, no doubt, the saints in heaven after their translation from earth, are described as wearing crowns of gold. Yes, the Christian's crowning day is most certainly coming.
Is it not good, however, to give Christ a place in our thoughts in this connection, and to sing the afore-mentioned hymn with reference to Him?
Does it not gladden our hearts to known that His crowning day is coming by-and-by?
It is true, of course, that He is already crowned with glory and honor in heaven. Heb. 2:99But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Hebrews 2:9) tells us so. But it is not to this that I refer. The Scriptures affirm that the day will come when the One who was rejected and despised shall reign in triumph, and that the government of the world shall be upon His shoulder. Creation's crown shall deck His thorn-pierced brow. His pierced hand shall wield the scepter of the universe. He whose words of grace were once slighted and disbelieved shall give law to the nations.
Since God is righteous, this must be so. Could He allow the holy, devoted life of the One who, in infinite grace, took up a path of dependence and obedience, to pass unrequited and unacknowledged? If King Ahasuerus delighted to honor the man who had faithfully served him, will not the God of glory delight to heap honor upon Him whose meat was to do His will?
Think for a moment of what the earthly life of Christ must have been to the heart of God.
The engineer of the great Brooklyn Bridge was confined to his bed when it was in process of construction. Day by day, looking from his window, he saw its massive piers rise, and the network of cables skillfully formed. When it was finished, being asked what he thought of it, he replied, "It is exactly what I wanted it to be.”
May we not say that this is just how God regarded the devoted life of obedience and untiring service of His beloved Son upon earth? All that His heart desired that man should be, Christ was. Perfection was found in Him. Well might the heavens open, that God might proclaim His delight in His beloved Son. Who can tell what it must have been for Him to look down and see, for the first time in the world's history, a Man whose every desire was to do His will, who lived altogether for His pleasure?
Shall He not vindicate that holy life, so ruthlessly "taken from the earth?" Shall He not exalt, in the very scene of His rejection and humiliation, the One who so perfectly glorified His name? Assuredly He will do so. The crown will be bestowed upon Him "whose right it is" (Ezek. 21:2727I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him. (Ezekiel 21:27)). Might and dominion shall be His. And He is worthy!
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What will that day, the "crowning day," mean for those who have shared the reproach and rejection of Christ? Let the answer be given in the very words of Scripture: "Joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together" (Rom. 8:1717And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17)). "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Tim. 2:1212If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: (2 Timothy 2:12)). "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in my throne" (Rev. 3:2121To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. (Revelation 3:21)).
When Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, expressed a hope that Caligula might someday sit upon the imperial throne, the Emperor Tiberius, in his anger, threw him into a loathsome dungeon. There he languished as the weeks and months rolled slowly by. But when, in course of time, Caligula ascended the throne, he went in person to set the prisoner free. He robed Agrippa in royal purple and gave him a palace for his residence. He took the heavy chains which he had worn, and for every link of iron he gave him one of gold, of equal weight.
Even so will it be in the crowning day. When the King comes into His kingdom, not one who has borne loss and reproach for His sake will be forgotten. Rich will be the rewards that He will heap upon them.
“What a day will that be when the Savior appears!
How welcome to those who have shared in His cross!
A crown incorruptible then will be theirs,
A rich compensation for suffering and loss.”
The thought of this should lead us, in true loyalty to our rejected Lord, to refrain from seeking honor and popularity in the world.
At the coronation of a British king, the nobles in attendance wait till the crown is placed upon the monarch's head. Then, and not till then, do they place their coronets upon their own heads. It was a reproach to the Christians at Corinth that they were ante-dating the crowning day. They were already "reigning as kings" (1 Cor. 4:88Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. (1 Corinthians 4:8)). The apostles, on the contrary, were "made as the filth of the world," and "the offscouring of all things” (ver. 13). Surely, theirs was the better and truer portion. And theirs will be the brighter crown in the coming day of glory.
Godfrey de Bouillon, the Crusader, when named the first Christian king of Jerusalem, refused to wear a crown of gold in the place where his Say four had been crowned with thorns. God grant us more of this spirit.
What honor can possibly compare with the honor of sharing the triumph of Christ, and being mentioned by Him as having been faithful during the day of His rejection?
General Howard, one of the heroes of the American Civil War, said: "There was one proud day of my life, and that was when a vote of thanks was moved to me on the floor of Congress' for my stand at Gettysburg." And what will it be for the believer, now scorned and looked down upon as his Master was before him, to have his name mentioned in the presence of the assembled universe, and be acknowledged as Christ's in the crowning day? The Lord Himself has said: "Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God" (Luke 12:88Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: (Luke 12:8)). Again, "He that overcometh. I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels" (Rev. 3:55He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. (Revelation 3:5)).
Who would not seek grace from God, then, to be an overcomer and to share in the glory of "the crowning day that's coming by-and-by?”