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A King Like No Other — Page 4
This is a King who has all the praise of all creation.
When the Pharisees see the crowd and how they are praising Jesus, they are enraged, and demand that Jesus rebuke them for their praise. Now let me say that in one sense I believe the Pharisees were right in asking Jesus to rebuke the crowd. Not for the same reasons they did of course, but because they were praising Him for something that He was not. They were praising Him because they were under the impression that He was going to be an earthly King who would rescue Israel from Roman oppression. Why did Jesus allow them to praise Him for something that was so much less than Him?
But the Pharisees were also so very wrong. Aren’t you glad that Jesus does not rebuke you when you praise Him, even if you are a little bit off base? How many of us have praised God because we think that He will always deliver us from pain and suffering? In reality, that is not quite our God. He allows us to suffer at times to teach us His grace. How many of us have believed things in the past and praised God for them which we later found to be off-base?
These same people rebuked Jesus earlier as recorded in Matthew 19 when the children were coming to Him. But aren’t these disciples children in the faith themselves? They were wrong in that they thought Jesus would rule now, but in reality He was a king of a very different sort. Do you rebuke the young believer who is excited about God, but maybe just a touch off based? Have you crushed a vibrant, but slightly misguided spirit? Look at yourself. You have never opened your mouth adequately to praise Him with pure enough motives, with right enough doctrine, with pureness of heart—but He still accepts your praise.
Jesus responds. “If these will not praise, the stones will cry out!” This is not hyperbole. I do not know how they would cry out, but the God who made man from dust, changed a staff into a snake, created the universe from nothing is clearly sufficient to make the stones cry out in praise.
Indeed, Psalm 50:7 says that the very “heavens declare the righteousness of God.” All creation cries out to praise and bring glory to this King. The heavens do not declare the righteousness of any other ruler, past, present of future. This King is worthy of the praise of all creation,
This King is a King like no other
Crown Him, ye morning stars of light,
Who fixed this floating ball;
Now hail the strength of Israel’s might,
And crown Him Lord of all.
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