“THAT’S MY KING!”

“THAT’S MY KING!”
Rev. S. M. Lockridge

THE BIBLE SAYS…
My King is a seven-way king. He’s a king of the Jews, that’s a racial king. He’s a king of Israel, that’s a national king; He’s a king of righteousness; He’s a king of the ages; He’s a king of heaven; He’s a king of glory; He’s a king of kings; and He’s the Lord of Lords; that’s my King!
Well, I wonder, do you know Him? David said, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork.” My King is a sovereign King; no means of measure can define His limitless love; no far-seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of His shoreless supply; no barrier can hinder Him from throwing out His blessings. He’s enduringly strong; He’s entirely sincere; He’s eternally steadfast; He’s immortally graceful; He’s imperially powerful; He’s impartially merciful.

DO YOU KNOW HIM?
He’s the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world; He’s God’s Son; He’s the sinner’ s Savior; He’s the centerpiece of civilization; He stands in the solitude of Himself; He’s august and He’s unique; He’s unparalleled; He’s unprecedented. He is the loftiest idea in literature; He’s the highest personality in philosophy; He is the supreme problem in higher criticism; He’s the fundamental doctrine of true theology; He is the core, the necessity for spiritual religion; He’s the miracle of the age; He is the superlative of everything good that you choose to call Him; He’s the only one qualified to be an all-sufficient Savior!

I WONDER IF YOU KNOW HIM TODAY?
He supplies strength for the weak; He’s available for the tempted and the tried; He sympathizes and He saves; He strengthens and sustains; He guards and He guides; He heals the sick; He cleansed the lepers; He forgives sinners; He discharges debtors; He delivers the captives; He defends the feeble; He blesses the young; He serves the unfortunate; He regards the aged; He rewards the diligent and He purified the meek.

I WONDER IF YOU KNOW HIM?
Well, my King, He is a key to knowledge; He’s a wellspring of wisdom; He’s a doorway of deliverance; He’s a pathway of peace; He’s a roadway of righteousness; He’s a highway of holiness; He’s a gateway of glory.

DO YOU KNOW HIM?
Well, His office is manifold; His promise is sure; His light is matchless; His goodness is limitless; His mercy is everlasting; His love never changes; His Word is enough; His grace is sufficient; His reign is righteousness and His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.

I wish I could describe Him to you! But He is indescribable! He’s God. He’s incomprehensible; He’s invincible; He’s irresistible; Well, you can’t get Him out of your mind; you can’t get Him off your hand; you can’t outlive Him and you can’t live without Him; The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him, but they found out they couldn’t stop Him; Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him; the witnesses couldn’t get their testimonies to agree; Herod couldn’t kill Him; death couldn’t handle Him and the grave couldn’t hold Him!

YES, THAT’S MY KING! THAT’S MY KING!
And thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever and ever (How long is that?) and ever and ever, and when you get through with all the forevers then AMEN, AMEN, AMEN!!

Save [and] Salvation

yāša‘ [and] yešû‘āh
One of the key themes of the Bible, of course, is salvation. Nevertheless, despite not only the prominence of this theme but also the clarity of what it is and how it comes, there seems in our day to be much confusion about it. An understanding of these words, however, along with yesterday’s study of sin, clears up all question.
As most Hebrew nouns come from a verb, the verb here is yāša‘ (H3467), which appears about 200 times and means “to save, help, deliver, or defend.” The “underlying idea of this verb is bringing to a place of safety or broad pasture as opposed to a narrow strait.” This idea actually comes from the same Arabic root that means “to make wide or sufficient,” since “wide” implies freedom from stress and encumbrance. Such change, however, demands deliverance, and such deliverance must come from outside the individual. The Septuagint usually renders yāša‘ as the Greek sōzō (G4982), “to deliver or preserve from danger or destruction.”
A vivid example of yāša‘ is Israel’s deliverance from Egypt (Exo_14:30), accomplished, of course, solely by God. Even when deliverance came through some human instrumentality, it was still only by God’s power, as when Gideon saved God’s people from the Midianites only because God empowered him (Jdg_6:14-16).
From what, then, does salvation deliver us? What is its substance? Salvation is deliverance from spiritual death. Because of Adam’s sin in the garden of Eden (Gen_2:17), “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Eze_18:4; also Rom_5:12). It is, therefore, Christ alone who came to “save his people from their sins” (Mat_1:21).
Further, no verse of Scripture is clearer on the source of salvation (yešû‘āh, H3444) than is Jon_2:9 : “Salvation is of the LORD.” From beginning to end, and everything in between, salvation is all from God. It is not because of our partial merit or good works (Tit_3:5), not because we “said a prayer,” not because of our own “foreseen faith”— even the faith to believe the gospel is God-given (Eph_2:8-9; Joh_6:65; Php_1:29; Act_18:27). Rather, “Salvation is of the Lord,” writes Spurgeon. “The Lord has to apply it, to make the unwilling willing, to make the ungodly godly, and bring the vile rebel to the feet of Jesus, or else salvation will never be accomplished.”
Scriptures for Study: God continues to deliver us on a daily basis. Read Psalms 20, noting God’s deliverance from enemies.