"Thine Eyes Shall See The King In His Beauty"
Isa.33:17
When Sennacherib, with his immense
Assyrian army, was about to attack Jerusalem, he sent Rabshakeh with a railing,
blasphemous message to Hezekiah and his people (II Kings 18).When Hezekiah heard
the threats and blas- phemies of the proud idolater,"He rent his
clothes,cov- ered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of God"
(II Kings 19:1).Then he called for the priests and sent them covered with
sackcloth to the prophet of God (II Kings 19:2-5). The people of
There is in Isaiah's words a message to
cheer the hearts of God's saints today. There is a nobler King here than
Hezekiah. He was the historical figure Isaiah had in mind. But the King spoken
of here by the Spirit of God is the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and
Lord of lords, the Prince and Monarch of the universe.
We have seen our beloved King humiliated
in the days of his flesh.He was "despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows,and acquainted with grief"(Isa. 53:3). While he lived
in this world sorrow was his robe, re- proach was his vesture,and
adversity was his bread.None was more afflicted than the son of man. When he
died, he died the painful, shameful, ignominious death of the cross. Reproach
broke his heart. He was beaten, mocked, nailed to the cross, hung up naked
before a mob of drunks and cruel Pharisees who,as they watched him die, spit in
his face,beat him with their fists, plucked out his beard,and sang taunting,jeering
songs of scorn. But now he has triumphed over his enemies!Now
faith beholds the King in his beauty,returning with the dyed garments of
Don Fortner