King of Heaven

“ If he is carried up into heaven, it is not in a flaming chariot that he vanishes in the twinkling of an eye; he ascends with majesty, and allows all leisure to his affectionate disciples to worship him, and to accompany their divine Master with their eyes and their homages. The angels, as if to receive him into his empire, come to greet this King of Glory and comfort the affliction of the disciples, by promising him once more to the earth, surrounded with glory and immortality. ”

“ All shapes of evil and visions of terror vanished;—and as the morning broke, the Angel of the Light, alone and victorious, with snowy wings widespread, and fair face bright with God’s own eternal splendour, lifted the King’s Crown in both radiant hands towards Heaven, to meet the rays of the rising sun and the full golden glory of the Day! ”

“ The Kings of the earth are men of might, And cities are burned for their delight, And the skies rain death in the silent night, And the hills belch death all day! But the King of Heaven, Who made them all, Is fair and gentle, and very small ”

“ As I did so there appeared before me, not a vision of Christ’s person, but of the meaning of the glorious crown of thorns He wore. The King of Heaven, the Prince of Peace, is a man—He took not upon Him the nature of angels. ”

“ The answer to the questions in the people's hearts is given in no cold didactic way. The truth about the heavenly kingdom comes warm from a loving heart yearning over the woes of a weary and heavy-laden humanity. Its first word is "Blessed"; its first paragraph, Beatitudes. Plainly the King of heaven has come to bless. There is no thunder nor lightning nor tempest on this mount; all is calm and peaceful as a summer's day. ”

“ With praises from Heaven for the Saviour's birth,
While glory in the highest rings
To Jesus Christ, the king of kings.
The night is dark, the earth is cold,
Yet Jesus leaves his throne;
To simple hearts the tale is told —
"He cometh to his own!" ”

“ But, my children, you see not with the eye of faith, and you hear not with the understanding of the spirit. I declare that the kingdom of heaven is the realization and acknowledgment of God’s rule within the hearts of men. True, there is a King in this kingdom, and that King is my Father and your Father. We are indeed his loyal subjects, but far transcending that fact is the transforming truth that we are his sons. In my life this truth is to become manifest to all. ”

“ The latter rain many times does them more good and sheweth in the king greater favour to them than his former sunshining countenance. But to apply the verse unto a fuller profit. The light of the countenance of the King of heaven is Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the brightness of His glory; and in this light there is life indeed. For as He is light and in Him is no darkness, so He is life, and in Him is no death. ”

“ By your holy intercession may ye deign to reconcile me to God, the King of all ages, that with Him, the Prince of peace, clothed in the robe of Immortality, my flesh may desire to rise in all the glory of the new life to reign with Him for ever in Heaven. ”

“ And when the Christian tells us of his Lord's Prayer—Thy kingdom come, as it is in heaven, we feel that heaven is not alien from us or from our desires and our hopes. If heaven is indeed the crown and consummation of personal and social life on earth, then it is to heaven we ourselves are looking forward, looking, fearing, longing. We, too, have our vision of a kingdom where love shall be the king, and self-seeking, with all its dreadful consequences, be done away. ”

“ It is 'the kingdom of heaven,' not only because the King is 'Our Father which art in heaven,' but because we cannot completely come into it, or it into us, till we pass out of earth by death, and enter through that gate into the city. ”

“ It is thou, O king, who art grown great, and become mighty: for thy greatness hath grown, and hath reached to heaven, and thy power unto the ends of the earth.
4:20. And whereas the king saw a watcher, and a holy one come down from heaven, and say: Cut down the tree, and destroy it, but leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, and let it be bound with iron and brass, among the grass without, and let it be sprinkled with the dew of heaven, and let his feeding be with the wild beasts, till seven times pass over him. ”

“ Take the King of glory in.”
2 He, whom highest heaven receives,
Ever loves the friends he leaves;
Though returning to his throne,
Still he calls his saints his own;
Still for us he intercedes,
Prevalent his death he pleads;
Near himself prepares a place,
Harbinger of human race.
3 Taken from our eyes to-day,
Master, hear us when we pray;
See thy needy servants, see,
Ever gazing up to thee:
Grant, though parted from our sight,
Far above yon azure hight,
Grant our hearts may thither rise,
Follow thee beyond the skies.
4 Ever upward let us move,
Wafted on the wings of love ”

“ The birds rest in their branches, because holy souls who lift up themselves from earthly thoughts by the wings, as it were, of virtues are refreshed after the fatigue of this life by their words and their consolations.” You will say, how can Christ be called the kingdom of Heaven, when He is not the kingdom, but its King? ”

“ Happily, too, the Celestial Father, the Supreme Lord and Great God, has now of His infinite mercy sent a heavenly messenger to convey our royal master the Heavenly King up into heaven, and has personally endowed him with power to sweep away from the thirty-three heavens demoniacal influences of every kind, and expel them thence into this lower world. ”

“ Heaven opened wide Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound On golden hinges moving, to let forth The King of Glory, in his powerful Word And Spirit, coming to create new worlds. ”

“ The heavenly things, therefore, even the kingdom of heaven, as in a figure it is written in the Scriptures—which are the kingdom of heaven, or Christ—Himself the king of the ages, are the kingdom of heaven which is likened to a treasure hidden in the field. ”

“ We may well ask, Why should the splendid lights of heaven above be confounded and ashamed because the Lord reigns in Mount Zion? Why should the king upon his throne confound the beautiful works of God’s creation which declare His glory and show forth His wisdom and power? ”

“ This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof unto the king. Thou, O king, art king of kings, unto whom the God of heaven hath given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory; and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee to rule over them all: thou art the head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee ”

“ Others, as we have said, have gone to swell the grand, triumphant strain around the throne of God, where angels and archangels unite to make all heaven resound with the praises of our King—among those of whom it is said, "These are they which came up through great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." ”

“ As experience accumulates, and ideas of causation grow more precise, kings lose their supernatural attributes; and, instead of God-king, become God-descended king, God-appointed king, the Lord's anointed, the vicegerent of heaven, ruler reigning by Divine right. ”

“ Heaven relates to the future kingdom of glory. Especially in some of the parables of our Lord does the term refer to the work of grace with the people of God in this mortal state. But if we may be allowed to express the relation between believers and their Lord in this mortal state by the term kingdom of grace; and the future relation of immortal beings with the King of kings by the kingdom of glory, the position that the kingdom was set up at the first advent is not relieved of any of its difficulties. ”

“ Press on in the struggle to scatter the dread foe, the King of Kings aids you for His desire is towards you. He Himself strengthens your soul against Satan; He Himself will grant the glory of His kingdom after victory. Delights await you, riches are destined for you, [Pg 254] the court of heaven proffers you countless joys. Christ prepares espousals wondrous in delights, and you may look for this prince if you preserve your chastity. ”

“ the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing. ”

“ Sire of ages, ne’er to cease, King of Kings and Prince of Peace.
Come and worship at his feet, yield to Him the homage meet;
From his manger to his throne, homage due to God alone.
21 32.
Christ is born! go tell the story; tell the nations of his birth;
Tell them that the “Lord of Glory” comes from heaven to dwell on earth:
Let the tidings fill the world with sacred mirth!
See, He lies in yonder manger; “Prince of Life” his Title is ”

“ Is the Lord of the earth,
Ay! the star rains its fire and the Beautiful sing,
For the manger of Bethlehem cradles a king.
In the light of that star
Lie the ages impearled;
And that song from afar
Has swept over the world.
Every hearth is aflame, and the Beautiful sing
In the homes of the nations that Jesus is King.
We rejoice in the light,
And we echo the song
That comes down through the night
From the heavenly throng.
Ay! we shout to the lovely evangel they bring,
And we greet in His cradle our Saviour and King. ”

“ and next him Moloch, sceptred king, Stood up—the strongest and the fiercest Spirit That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair. ”

“ From this vantage point, many things appear in a light of peculiar instructiveness and beauty. But one feature stands out in proportions of loftiness, and glory, which cast all else into the shade of insignificance. As with rapt spirits, we gaze, the high throne is revealed where sits the Son of man,—his human form robed in the Father’s glory,—his countenance blending the infinite majesty of God, with the fullness of grace and truth,—his brow adorned with a diadem of many crowns, and all power in heaven and earth, in his hand. ”

“ The Rest of Paradise, where now, enthroned
As King, Thou reignst in bliss, and whence Thou callst
Poor men to come to Thee, to Whom is given
A Name above all Names, O truest Lord
Of boundless Life and Love uncircumscribed. ”

“ Heaven will one day open The King's eyes, that so long have slept upon This bold bad man. ”

“ It seemed to express all the joy of spring mornings and clear sunshine and bursting blossoms, blended with all that I guessed of the songs of angels, and with all that I had heard and believed, in my fledgling soul, of the glorious One who was born in a manger and died on a cross, that He might reign in human hearts as a king. ”

“ And, thank Heaven, we can enter it almost anywhere—sometimes if we merely close our eyes! And we can be our real selves in this dream-world of ours too, there is nobody to say us nay; there are no laws and no false morals; we are fairy kings and queens in a fairy kingdom. ”

“ God once sat on his inconceivable throne, and far around him, rank after rank, angels and archangels, seraphim and cherubim, resting on their silver wings and lifting their dazzling brows, rose and swelled, with the splendors of an illimitable sea of immortal beings, gleaming and fluctuating to the remotest borders of the universe. The anthem of their praise shook the pillars of the creation, and filled the vault of heaven with a pulsing flood of harmony. ”

“ I live, and breathe, and dwell, aspiring high,
Even to the throne of Thy divinity;
I am, O God! and surely Thou must be!
Thou art!—directing, guiding all—Thou art!
Direct my understanding then to Thee;
Control my spirit, guide my wandering heart;
Though but an atom midst immensity,
Still I am something fashioned by Thy hand!
I hold a middle rank 'twixt heaven and earth—
On the last verge of mortal being stand,
Close to the realms where angels have their birth,
Just on the boundaries of the spirit land! ”

“ And know the joy Thy Presence brings.
4⁠So, hand in hand, by Hope made strong,
Through joy and sorrow, peace and strife,
May they, undaunted, press along
The Way that leadeth unto Life,
To cast their crowns before the Throne
Of Him Whom King of kings they own
Amen. ”

“ The heathen, their kings, and their warriors, listened to the preachers, abandoned their erroneous beliefs and forsook their priests and their idols, to celebrate the praises of the most wise Creator of the Universe, the King of Kings, whose heart is filled with infinite mercy. ”

“ The King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favorite. It is thus I consider myself from time to time in His holy presence. ”

“ Thus originated the notion of a plurality of Gods, each planet having a separate ruling Deity. And the sun—being greatly superior to, transcending in magnitude, light, power, and influence, all the other luminaries, with their qualities all combined—was, with the most childlike naturalness, supposed to be ruled by the chief of the Gods, "the Lord of lords and King of kings." ”

“ Awake! rejoice! and hail the morn,
Whereon the Prince of Life was born;
With grateful hearts arise and sing,
Hosannah to th' eternal King;
Let all the earth proclaim the morn
Whereon the King of Kings was born. ”