Psalm 72:17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him… I. THE PERPETUITY OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. extending from age to age throughout all generations; for it is in connection with it that "His name shall endure for ever, and be continued as long as the sun." Where are the mighty monarchies of the ancient world — the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian — that seemed to have taken deep root in the earth, and, matured by ages of vigour, to bid fair for perpetuity? Even the more modern States of Greece and Rome have undergone a complete change, and their ancient characters are sought in vain in the regions they once emblazoned with glory. Nor has the higher and less vulgar authority of wisdom and legislation been more stable. The schools of ancient philosophy have passed away, and the tenets of their sages have solved for us none of the hard questions suggested by reason and conscience: one great name after another dies from the memory of fleeting generations, as the stars fade with the rising morn. II. THE FELICITY OF THIS KINGDOM: "Men shall be blessed in Him." Whatever blessings have descended on the human race since the fall, have been communicated through the mediation of Christ; for thus only, we are taught, can a holy God have friendly intercourse with man. But the blessings that specially mark His kingdom are of a spiritual nature, and can be rightly estimated only by a spiritual mind. III. THE DESTINED UNIVERSAL EXTENSION OF THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST: "all nations shall call Him blessed." And why, asks the infidel, was not this kingdom, and the revelation that makes it known, universal from the beginning? Why did the God of the whole earth confine His favour for many ages to the descendants of Abraham, and, leaving other nations in darkness, restrict the light of heaven to the little province of Judaea? Is it to be believed that, overlooking and despising the great, populous, enlightened empires of the ancient world, He expended all His treasures on a people remarkable only for a bigoted and exclusive superstition? Is this system of favouritism worthy the Sovereign of the universe, the Father of mankind? But not to insist on arguments which, it may be said, are fitted to silence rather than satisfy, it is an important fact, never to be forgotten, that Divine revelation was originally universal, without limitation or selection, commensurate with the necessity that called it forth; none of the progeny of Adam being exempted from the promise of a Redeemer who should bruise the serpent's head, given to our first parents as a sacred trust for the benefit of mankind. The truths embodied in these facts were designed to regulate the faith, worship, and hopes of all mankind; and, had they been faithfully preserved, the blessings of the true religion would have been in every man's possession. It was the careless forgetfulness of these things, and the wilful preference of darkness to light, that introduced idolatry and wickedness into the world. If Divine revelation was not universal in ancient times, those who incurred the loss must bear the blame. For though the promise declared that "all nations should be blessed in Him," though the Saviour's parting command enjoined that His "Gospel should be preached to all the world and to every creature," have His disciples as yet acquitted themselves of the charge assigned to them in the realization of this purpose? If the Gospel be not universal, who, we ask, are answerable for this loss? where falls the blame of this delinquency? The commission given to them is continued with us — the promises that supported them are those we rest upon — the purposes of God wait on us still for their accomplishment; and those to whom He commits the fulfilment of His will, are no other than the reclaimed sinners who, like us, have passed from death into life, who stand obedient to His call, who are ready to start to any service in which His interests demand their activity. (H. Grey, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. |
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