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An ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek. In prophetic form we have here expressed the truth which Messiah himself expressed when he said, "And if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." All humanity is figured as turning to look on the crucified One, and responding to an irresistible attraction which makes all gather round him, as armies gather about an ensign or standard, and as clans gather to the appointed meeting-place. Our Lord spoke, on three separate occasions, of the attractive power that would come from his "uplifting."

(1) John 3:14. Here the idea is a general one. Lifted up in the sense of being set in sight of men, as the brazen serpent was when set up on the pole in the middle of the camp.

(2) John 8:28. Here the idea is that his Messiah-ship would be evident when his life was complete, and that would not be until he was lifted up in death.

(3) John 12:32. Here we find Greek proselytes anxious to see Jesus. Such pressing into the kingdom was premature. The "corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die." Greeks and Gentiles must wait just a little while longer. The ensign would soon be lifted up; then to it they may seek. It is interesting to notice that the Syriac word for "crucify" means "to raise," "to lift up," as men set up a standard. Christ's power from his cross - Christ's attraction as an Ensign - is our subject, and we note -

I. CHRIST, ON HIS CROSS, ATTRACTIVELY REVEALS HIMSELF TO THE MINDS OF MEN. We can only get imperfect and unsatisfactory views by limiting our attention to Christ's work. In that way we can only hope to formulate cold and lifeless doctrines. But our views are equally imperfect if we limit our attention to Christ's person. Then we can do no more than nourish sentiment, or set before ourselves an example for imitation. We must combine both, and let each illuminate the other. Illustrate the splendor of the combined oxy-hydrogen light. How much Christ made of himself! In a man it would be painful egotism; why is it not in him? Because it was his mission to manifest God to men; so he must point to himself. All his life, speech, doing, suffering, was a gradual disclosing of himself, of the deep mystery of his origin, his claim, of God in him. But what we need to see more fully than we do is that, apart from his death, as he died, his life could not have efficiently revealed him. Death only completes the test. If he bad failed in that supreme hour, an imperfect sonship could never have shown to us the perfect Father-God. We can see that only the story of his life could not have sufficed, for:

1. His enemies misrepresented that life, and said, "He hath a devil."

2. Disciples misunderstood it, and only saw its meaning after his death.

3. Critics now can explain the life, but are hopelessly puzzled by the mystery of his death. Lifted up, Christ is set before us

(1) as the model Man;

(2) as not a mere man;

(3) as the Son of God with power.

And if religion demands personal love to and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, then we must know him, we must know him fully; and we can only thus know him as he is "lifted up."

II. CHRIST, ON HIS CROSS, ATTRACTIVELY SHOWS HIMSELF TO THE HEARTS OF MEN. Men may be driven or drawn to goodness. The gospel has its majesty of driving, its "whip of small cords." "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." But its great power is its drawing power; its moral influence; its constraint of the affections, and of the will. A voice from the "Ensign," from Jesus lifted up, is ever calling to us and saying, "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see." Suffering has a strange power on human hearts. Self-sacrificing suffering moves us strangely. Crucifixion was curse and shame, but it set Christ in the world's eye. No kind of death could so lift him up and compel the dying world to look. And Christ crucified is still the supreme persuasion, the irresistible attraction, to men. Jesus lifted up, an Ensign for the gathering of the people, may be an old and worn story, and it may have lost something of its drawing power for you. Ah! that can only be because men, and men's words, have stood in front of him, and taken your eyes off him. See him only. Look to the Ensign, and then you will find your soul asking itself - "For whom, for whom, my soul, Were all these sorrows borne?" and you too will feel "the strong attractive power." - R.T.

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KJV: And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

WEB: It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious.