1600. A Greater Than Solomon

A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Evening, February 6, 1881, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. *3/25/2013

Behold, a greater than Solomon is here. [Lu 11:31]

1. Our first thought is that no mere man would have said this concerning himself unless he had been altogether eaten up with vanity; for Solomon was among the Jews the very ideal of greatness and wisdom. It would be an example of the utmost self-conceit if any mere man were to say of himself — “A greater than Solomon is here.” Any person who was really greater and wiser than Solomon would be the last man to claim such preeminence. A wise man would never think it; a prudent man would never say it. The Lord Jesus Christ, if we regard him as a mere man, would never have uttered such an expression, for a more modest, self-forgetting man was never found in all our race. View it on the supposition that the Christ of Nazareth was a mere man, and I say that his whole conduct was totally different from the spirit which would have suggested an utterance like this — “A greater than Solomon is here.” For men to compare themselves with each other is not wise, and Christ was wise; it is not humble, and Christ was humble. He would not have spoken like this if there had not been cause and reason in his infinitely glorious nature. It was because the divinity within him must speak out. For God to say that he is greater than all his creatures is no boasting; for what are they in his sight? All worlds are only sparks from the anvil of his omnipotence. Space, time, eternity, all these are as nothing before him; and for him to compare or even to contrast himself with one of his own creatures is supreme condescension, let him word the comparison however he may. It was the divine within our Lord which made him say — and not even then with a view to exalt himself, but with a view to point the moral that he was trying to bring before the people — “A greater than Solomon is here.” He as much as said, “The queen of the south came from a distance to hear the wisdom of Solomon, but you refuse to hear me. She gave attention to a man, but you will not regard your God. You will not listen to the incarnate Deity who tells you words of infinite, infallible wisdom.” Our Lord Jesus intends his hearers’ good, and where the motive is so selfless there remains no room for criticism. He tells them that he is greater than Solomon, to convince them of the greatness of their crime in refusing to listen to the messages of love with which his lips were loaded. Foreigners came from afar to Solomon; but I, he says, have come to your door, and brought infinite wisdom into your very gates, and yet you refuse me. Therefore the queen of the south shall rise up in judgment against you, for, in rejecting me, you reject a greater than Solomon.

2. The second thought that comes to one’s mind is this: notice the self-consciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. He knows who he is, and what he is, and he is not lowly in spirit because he is ignorant of his own greatness. He was meek and lowly in heart — “Servus servorum,” as the Latins were accustomed to call him, “Servant of servants,” but all the while he knew that he was Rex regum, or King of kings. He takes a towel and he washes his disciples’ feet; but all the while he knows that he is their Master and their Lord. He associates with tax collectors and prostitutes, and lives with the common people; but all the while he knows that he is the only begotten of the Father. He sits as a child in the temple hearing and asking questions of the rabbis; he stands among his disciples as though he were one of themselves, conversing with the ignorant and foolish of the day, seeking their good; but he knows that he is not one of them; he knows that he has nothing to learn from them: he knows that he is able to teach senates and to instruct kings and philosophers, for he is greater than Solomon. He wears a peasant’s garb, and has nowhere to lay his head; but he knows that, whatever the lowliness of his condition, he is greater than Solomon; he lets us perceive that he knows it, so that all may understand the love which brought him down so low. It is grand humility on Christ’s part that he condescends to be our servant, our Saviour, when he is so great that the greatest of men are as nothing before him. “He considered it not robbery to be equal with God”: notice that; and yet “he made himself of no reputation.” Some people do not know their own worth, and so, when they stoop to a lowly office it is no stoop for their minds, for they do not know their own abilities. They do not know to what they are equal; but Christ did know: he knew all about his own deity, and his own wisdom and greatness as man. I admire, therefore, the clear understanding which sparkles in his deep humiliation, like a gem in a dark mine. He is not one who stoops down according to the old rhyme — 

   “As needs he must who cannot sit upright”;

but he is one who comes down wittingly from his throne of glory, marking each step and fully estimating the descent which he is making. The cost of our redemption was known to him, and he endured the cross, despising the shame. Watts well sings — 

   This was compassion like a God,
      That when the Saviour knew
   The price of pardon was his blood,
      His pity ne’er withdrew.

4. Brethren, if our Saviour himself said that he was greater than Solomon, you and I must fully believe it, enthusiastically acknowledge it, and prepare to proclaim it. If others will not acknowledge it, let us be all the more prompt to confess it. If he himself had to say, before they would acknowledge it, “A greater than Solomon is here,” do not let it be necessary that the saying should be repeated, but let us all confess that he is indeed greater than Solomon. Let us go home with this resolve in our minds, that we will speak greater things of Christ than we have done, that we will try to love him more and serve him better, and make him in our own estimation and in the world’s, greater than he has ever been. Oh for a glorious high throne to set him on, and a crown of stars to place upon his head! Oh to bring nations to his feet! I know my words cannot honour him according to his merits: I wish they could. I am quite sure to fail in my own judgment when proclaiming his excellence; indeed, I grow less and less satisfied with my thoughts and language concerning him. He is too glorious for my feeble language to describe him. If I could speak with the tongues of men and of angels, I could not speak worthily of him. If I could borrow all the harmonies of heaven, and enlist every harp and song of the glorified, yet the music would not be sweet enough for his praises. Our glorious Redeemer is for ever blessed: let us bless him. He is to be extolled above the highest heavens: let us sound out his praises. Oh for a well-tuned harp! May the Spirit of God help both heart and lip to extol him at this hour.

5. First, then, we shall try to draw a parallel between Jesus and Solomon; and, secondly, we will break away from all comparisons, and show where there cannot be any parallel between Christ and Solomon at all.

6. I. First, then, BETWEEN CHRIST AND SOLOMON there are some points of likeness.

7. When the Saviour himself gives us a comparison it is a clear proof that a likeness was originally intended by the Holy Spirit, and therefore we may say without hesitation that Solomon was meant to be a type of Christ. I am not going into detail, nor am I about to refine upon small matters; but I shall give you five points in which Solomon was conspicuously like Christ, and in which our Lord was greater than Solomon. Oh for help in the great task before me.

8. And, first, in wisdom. Whenever you talked about Solomon to a Jew his eyes began to flash with exaltation; his blood leaped in his veins with national pride. Solomon — that name brought to mind the proudest time of David’s dynasty, the golden age. Solomon, the magnificent, why, surely, his name crowns Jewish history with glory, and the brightest beam of that glory is his wisdom. In the east, and I think I may say in the west, it still remains a proverb, “To be as wise as Solomon.” No modern philosopher or learned monarch has ever shared the fame of the Son of David, whose name remains as the synonym of wisdom. Of no man since could it be said as of him, “And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart.” He was familiar with all knowledge, and was a master in all sciences. He was a naturalist: “and he spoke of trees, from the cedar trees that are in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall: he spoke also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.” He was an engineer and architect, for he wrote: “I made great works for myself; I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself: I made gardens and orchards for myself, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits; I made pools of water for myself, to water the plants that produce trees.” He was one who understood the science of government — a politician of the highest order. He was everything, in fact. God gave him wisdom and largeness of heart, says the Scripture, like the sand of the sea: “and Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.” Yes; but our Saviour knows infinitely more than Solomon. I want you tonight to come to him just as the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon, only for weightier reasons. You do not want to learn anything concerning architecture or navigation, agriculture or anatomy. You only need to know how you shall be built up a spiritual house, and how you shall cross those dangerous seas which lie between this land and the celestial city. Well, you may come to Jesus and he will teach you all that you need to know, for all wisdom is in Christ. Our divine Saviour knows things past and present and future: the secrets of God are with him. He knows the innermost heart of God, for no one knows the Father except the Son and he to whom the Son shall reveal him. To him it is given to take the book of prophetic decree and release its seven seals. Come, then, to Christ Jesus if you want to know the mind of God, for it is written that he “is made to us wisdom.” Solomon might have wisdom, but he could not be wisdom to others; Christ Jesus is that to the full. In the encyclopedic knowledge which he possesses — the universal knowledge which is stored up in him — there is enough for your guidance and instruction even to the end of life, however intricate and overshadowed your path may be.

9. Solomon proved his wisdom in part by his remarkable inventions. We cannot tell what Solomon did not know. At any rate, no man knows at this present moment how those huge stones, which have recently been discovered, which were the foundation of the ascent by which Solomon went up to the house of the Lord, were ever put into their places. Many of the stones of Solomon’s masonry are so enormous that scarcely could any modern machinery move them; and without the slightest cement they are put together so exactly that the blade of a knife could not be inserted between them. It is marvellous how the thing was done. How such great stones were brought from their original bed in the quarry — how the whole building of the temple was executed — no one knows. The castings in bronze and silver are scarcely less remarkable. No doubt many inventions have passed away from the knowledge of modern times, inventions as remarkable as those of our own age. We are a set of savages that are beginning to learn something, but Solomon knew and invented things which we shall, perhaps, rediscover in five hundred years’ time. By vehement exertion this boastful century, wretched century as it is, will crawl towards the wisdom which Solomon possessed ages ago. Yet Jesus is greater than Solomon. As for inventions, Solomon is no inventor at all compared with him who said, “Deliver him from going down into the pit, for I have found a ransom.” Oh Saviour, did you find out the way of our salvation? Did you bring into the world and carry out and execute the way by which hell’s gate should be closed, and heaven’s gate, once barred, should be thrown wide open? Then, indeed, you are wiser than Solomon. You are the deviser of salvation, the architect of the church, the author and finisher of our faith.

10. Solomon has left us some very valuable books — the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the matchless Song. But, oh, the words of Solomon fall far short of the words of Jesus Christ, for they are spirit and life. The power of the word of Jesus is infinitely greater than all the deep sayings of the sage. Proverbial wisdom cannot match his sayings, nor can “The Preacher” rival his sermons, and even the divine Song itself would remain without a meaning — an allegory never to be explained — if it were not that Christ himself is the sum and substance of it. Solomon may sing about Christ, but Christ is the substance of the song. He is greater than Solomon in his teachings, for his wisdom is from above, and leads men up to heaven. Blessed are those who sit at his feet.

11. Again, Solomon showed his wisdom in difficult judgments. You know how he settled the question between the two women concerning the child; Solomon solved many other puzzles, and Solomon was able to untie many other knots. He was a great ruler and governor — a man wise in politics, in social economy, and in commerce — wise in all human respects. But a greater than Solomon is present where Christ is. There is no difficulty which Christ cannot remove, no knot which he cannot untie, no question which he cannot answer. You may bring your hard questions to him, and he will answer them; and if you have any difficulty on your heart tonight, only resort to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer, and search his word, and you shall hear a voice as from the sacred oracle, which shall lead you in the path of safety.

12. My point at this time, especially as we are coming to the Communion table, is this. I want you who love the Lord Jesus Christ to believe in his infinite wisdom, and come to him for direction. I fear that when you are in trouble, you half suppose that the great keeper of Israel must have made a mistake. You get into such an intricate path that you say, “Surely, my Shepherd has not guided me properly.” Never think so. When you are poor and needy still say, “My poverty was ordained by a greater than Solomon.” What if you seem to be deprived of every comfort, and you are brought into a strange and solitary way, where you find no city to dwell in? Yet a guide is near, and that guide is not foolish; but a greater than Solomon is here. I think I look tonight into a great furnace. It is so fierce that I cannot bear to gaze into its terrible blaze. For fear my eyes should utterly fail me and lose the power of sight through the glare of that tremendous flame, I turn aside, for the fury of its flame overpowers me. But when I am strengthened to look again I see ingots of silver refining in the white heat, and I notice that the heat is tempered to the nth degree of nicety. I watch the process to the end, and I say, as I behold those ingots brought out all clear and pure, refined from all dross, and ready for the heavenly treasury, “Behold, a greater than Solomon was in that furnace work.” So you will find it, oh sufferer. Infinite wisdom is in your lot. Come, poor child, do not begin to interfere with your Saviour’s better judgment, but let it order all things. Do not let your little “Know” ever rise up against the great knowledge of your dear Redeemer. Think of this when you wade in deep waters, and comfortingly whisper to yourself, — “A greater than Solomon is here.”

13. I do not have time to enlarge, and therefore I would have you notice, next, that our Lord Jesus Christ is greater than Solomon in wealth. This was one of the things for which Solomon was noted. He had great treasures: he “made gold to be as stones, and as for silver it was of little account,” he had become so rich. He had multitudes of servants. I think he had sixty thousand hewers in the mountains hewing out stones and wood, so numerous were the workmen he employed. His court was magnificent to the nth degree. When you read of the food that was prepared to feed the court, and of the stately way in which everything was arranged from the stables of the horses upwards to the ivory throne, you feel, like the queen of Sheba, utterly astonished, and say, “The half was not told to me.” But, oh, when you consider all the wealth of Solomon, what poor stuff it is compared with the riches that are treasured up in Christ Jesus. Beloved, he who died upon the cross, and was indebted to a friend for a grave; he who was stripped even to the last rag before he died; he who possessed no wealth except that of sorrow and sympathy, yet had about him the power to make many rich, and he has made multitudes rich — rich to all the intents of everlasting bliss; and therefore he must be rich himself. Is he not rich who enriches millions? Why, our Lord Jesus Christ, even by a word, comforted those who were bowed down. When he stretched out his hand he healed the sick with a touch. There was a wealth about his every movement. He was a full man, full of all that man could desire to be full of; and now, since he has died and risen again, there is in him a wealth of pardoning love, a wealth of saving power, a wealth of intercessory might before the Father’s throne, a wealth of all things by which he enriches the sons of men, and shall enrich them to all eternity.

14. I want this truth to come home to you: I want you to recognise the riches of Christ, you who are his people; and, in addition, to remember the truth of our hymn — 

   Since Christ is rich can I be poor?
   What can I want besides?

15. I wish we could learn to know what we are by what Christ is. An old man said, “I am very old; I have lost my only son; I am penniless; and, worst of all, I am blind. But,” he added, “this does not matter for Christ is not infirm; Christ is not aged; Christ has all riches; and Christ is not blind; and Christ is mine and I have all things in him.” Could you not get hold of that somehow, brothers and sisters? Will not the Holy Spirit teach you the art of appropriating the Lord Jesus and all that he is and has. If Christ is your representative, why, then you are rich in him. Go to him to be enriched. Suppose I were to meet a woman, and I knew her husband to be a very wealthy man, and that he loved her very much, and she were to say to me, “I am dreadfully poor; I do not know where to get food and clothing.” “Oh,” I should say, “That woman is out of her mind. If she has such a husband, surely she only has to go to him for all that she needs. And what if nothing is invested in her name, yet it is in his name, and they are one, and he will deny her nothing.” I should say, “My good woman, you must not talk in that way, or I will tell your husband.” Well, I think that I shall have to say the same of you who are so very poor and cast down, and yet are married to Jesus Christ. I shall have to tell your Husband about you, that you bring such complaints against him, for all things are yours, for you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s; therefore, “lift up the hands that hang down, and confirm the feeble knees”; use the knees of prayer and the hand of faith, and your estate will well satisfy you. Do not think that you are married to Rehoboam, who will beat you with scorpions, for you are joined to a greater than Solomon. Do not imagine that your heavenly Bridegroom is a beggar. All the wealth of eternity and infinity is his; how can you say that you are poor while all that he has is yours?

16. Now, thirdly, and very briefly indeed. There was one point about Solomon in which every Israelite rejoiced, namely, that he was the prince of peace. His name means peace. His father, David, was a great warrior, but Solomon did not have to carry on war. His power was such that no one dared to venture into a conflict with so great and potent a monarch. Every man throughout Israel sat under his vine and fig tree, and no man was afraid. No trumpet of invader was heard in the land. Those were halcyon days for Israel when Solomon reigned. Ah, but in that matter a greater than Solomon is here; for Solomon could not give his subjects peace of mind, he could not bestow upon them rest of heart, he could not ease them of their burden of guilt, or draw the arrow of conviction from their heart and heal its smart. But I preach to you tonight that blessed divine Man of Sorrows who has accomplished our redemption, and who is greater than Solomon in his peace-giving power. Oh, come and trust him. Then shall your “peace be as a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” Am I addressing one of God’s people who is severely troubled, tumbled up and down in his thoughts? Brother or sister, do not think that you must wait a week or two before you can recover your peace. You can become restful in a moment, for “He is our peace,” — even he himself, and he alone. And, oh, if you will only take him at once, laying hold upon him by the hand of faith as your Saviour, this man shall be the peace even when the Assyrian shall come into the land. There is no peace like the peace which Jesus gives; it is like a river, deep, profound, renewed, ever-flowing, overflowing, increasing and widening into an ocean of bliss. “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall keep your heart and mind, through Jesus Christ.” Oh, come to him. Come to him at this moment. Do not remain an hour away from your Noah, or rest, for with him in the ark your weary wing shall be tired no longer. You shall be safe and restful the moment you return to him. The fruit of the Spirit is joy. I want you to get that joy and to enter into this peace. Blessed combination, joy and peace! Peace, peace, there is music in the very word: get it from him who is the Word, and whose voice can still a storm into a calm. A greater than Solomon is here to give you that peace; beat the sword of your inward warfare into the ploughshare of holy service; no longer sound an alarm, but blow the trumpet of peace in this the day of peace.

17. A fourth thing for which Solomon was noted was his great works. Solomon built the temple, which was one of the seven wonders of the world in its time. A very marvellous building it must have been, but I will not pause to describe it, for time fails us. In addition to this he erected for himself palaces, constructed fortifications, and made aqueducts and great pools to bring streams from the mountains to the various towns. He also founded Palmyra and Baalbec — those cities of the desert — to facilitate his commerce with India, Arabia, and other remote regions. He was a marvellous man. Earth has not seen his equal. And yet a greater than Solomon is here, for Christ has brought the living water from the throne of God right down to thirsty men, being himself the eternal aqueduct through which the heavenly current streams. Christ has built fortresses and munitions of defence, behind which his children stand secure against the wrath of hell; and he has founded and is daily finishing a wondrous temple, his church, of which his people are the living stones, fashioned, polished, rendered beautiful — a temple which God himself shall inhabit, for he “does not dwell in temples made with hands, that is to say, of this building”; but he dwells in a temple which he himself creates, of which Christ is architect and builder, foundation, and chief cornerstone. But Jesus builds for eternity, an everlasting temple, and, when all visible things pass away, and the very ruins of Solomon’s temple and Solomon’s aqueduct are scarcely to be discerned, what a sight will be seen in that New Jerusalem! The twelve layers of its foundations are of precious stones, its walls bedecked with rare diamonds, its streets are paved with gold, and its glory surpasses that of the sun. I am only talking metaphors, poor metaphors, too; for the glory of the city of God is spiritual, and where shall I find words with which to depict it? There, where the Lamb himself is the light, and the Lord God himself dwells — there the whole edifice, the entire New Jerusalem — shall be to the praise and the glory of his grace who gave Jesus Christ to be the builder of the house of his glory, of which I hope we shall form a part for ever and ever.

18. Now, if Christ does such great works, I want you to come to him, so that he may work in you the work of God. That is the point. Come and trust him at once. Trust him to build you up. Come and trust him to bring the living water to your lips. Come and trust him to make you a temple of the living God. Come, dear child of God, if you have great works to do, come and ask for the power of Christ with which to perform them. Come, you who would leave some memorial to the honour of the divine name, come to him to teach and strengthen you. He is the wise master-builder; come and be workers together with Christ. Baptize your weakness into his infinite strength, and you shall be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. May God help you to do so.

19. Once more, I draw the parallel upon the fifth point, and I am finished the comparisons. Solomon was great with respect to dominion. The kingdom of the Jews was never anything like that size before or after Solomon. It appears to have extended from the river of Egypt right across the wilderness far up to the Persian Gulf. We can scarcely tell how far Solomon’s dominions reached; they are said to have been “from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.” By one way or another he managed to bring various kings into subjection to him, and he was the greatest monarch who ever swayed the sceptre of Judah. It has all gone now. Poor, feeble Rehoboam, dropped from his foolish hands the reins his father held. The kingdom was torn in pieces, the tributary princes found their liberty, and the sunny days of Israel were over. On the contrary, our Lord Jesus Christ at this moment has dominion over all things. God has set him over all the works of his hands. Indeed, proclaim it among the heathen that the Lord reigns. The feet that were nailed to the tree are set upon the necks of his enemies. The hands that bore the nails sway at this moment the sceptre of all worlds: Jesus is King of kings, and Lord of lords! Hallelujah! Let universal sovereignty be ascribed to the Son of man: to him who was “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Proclaim it, you saints, for your own comfort. The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of the isles be glad of it. Everything that happens in providence is still under his sway, and the time is coming when a moral and spiritual kingdom will be set up by him which shall encompass the whole world. It does not look like it, does it? All these centuries have passed away, and little progress has been made. Ah, but he comes; and when he comes, or before he comes, he shall overturn, overturn, overturn, for it is his right, and God will give it to him. And, as surely as God lives, to him shall every man bow the knee, “and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Do not be afraid about it. Do not measure difficulties, much less tremble at them. What is faith made for except to believe what seems impossible? To expect universal dominion for Christ when everything goes well is only the expectation of reason; but to expect it when everything goes badly, is the triumph of Abrahamic confidence. Look upon the great mountain and say, “Who are you, oh great mountain? Before the true Zerubbabel you shall become a plain.” In the blackest midnight, when the ebony darkness stands thick and hard as granite before you, believe that, at the mystical touch of Christ, all of it shall pass away, and at the brightness of his rising the eternal light shall dawn, never to be quenched. This is to act the part of a believer; and I ask you to act that part, and believe to the full in Christ the Omnipotent. What does this stinted faith means in an almighty arm? What a turmoil we are in and what a worry seizes us if a little delay arises! Everything has to be done in the next ten minutes, or we think our Lord to be slack. Is this the part of wisdom? The Eternal has infinite leisure, who are we that we should rush him?

   His purposes will ripen fast,
   Unfolding every hour.

20. A day is long for us: but a thousand years for him are only as the twinkling of a star. Oh, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him, for the time shall come when the God of Israel shall put to rout his adversaries, and the Christ of the cross shall be the Christ of the crown. We shall one day hear it said, — The great Shepherd reigns; and his unsuffering kingdom has now come. Then rocks and hills, and vales and islands of the sea shall all be vocal with the one song, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive honour and glory and power and dominion and might for ever and ever!”

21. So I have tried to draw the parallel, but I ask you to see the Lord Jesus for yourself, and know whether I have spoken the truth about him. You have heard the report; now, like the Queen of Sheba, go and see for yourself. Go to Christ, as for his dominion, come under his sway and acknowledge his sceptre. Go and trust your King; love your King; praise your King; delight in your King. How courtiers delight to be summoned to court! How glad they are to see the queen’s face. How pleased they are if she only gives them a kindly word! Surely, their fortune is made, or at least their hopes are raised and their spirits lifted up. Shall we not sun ourselves in the presence of the blessed and only Potentate? Let us come into the presence of our King tonight, or else let us sit here and weep. Let us come to his table to feed upon him. Let us live on his word. Let us delight in his love; and we shall surely say, “A greater than Solomon is here.”

22. II. I shall not detain you longer than a minute or two while I remark that we must rise beyond all parallels, if we would reach the height of this great argument, for BETWEEN CHRIST AND SOLOMON THERE IS MUCH MORE CONTRAST THAN COMPARISON — much more difference than likeness.

23. In his nature the Lord Jesus is greater than Solomon. Alas, poor Solomon! The strongest man who ever lived, namely Samson, was the weakest of men; and the wisest man who ever lived was, perhaps, the greatest, certainly the most conspicuous fool. How different is our Lord! There is no infirmity in Christ, no folly in the incarnate God. The backsliding of Solomon finds no parallel in Jesus, in whom the prince of this world found nothing though he searched him through and through.

24. Our Lord is greater than Solomon because he is not mere man. He is man, perfect man, man to the utmost of manhood, except for sin; but still he is more, and infinitely more, than man. “In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” He is God himself. “The Word was God.” God dwells in him, and he himself is God.

25. As in nature he was infinitely superior to Solomon, and not to be compared with him for a moment, so he was in character. Look at Christ and Solomon for a minute with respect to real greatness of character, and you can hardly see Solomon with a microscope, while Christ rises grandly before you, growing every moment until he fills the whole horizon of your admiration. Principally let me note the point of self-sacrifice. Jesus lived entirely for other people; he had never a thought about himself. Solomon was, to a great extent, wise for himself, rich for himself, strong for himself; and you see in those great palaces, and in all their arrangements, that he seeks his own pleasure, honour, and advantage; and, alas! that seeking of pleasure leads him into sin, that sin into a still greater one. Solomon, wonderful as he is, only compels you to admire him for his greatness, but you do not admire him for his goodness. You see nothing that makes you love him, you rather tremble before him than feel gladdened by him. Oh, but look at Christ. He does not have a thought for himself. He lives for others. How grandly magnificent he is in selfless love. “He loved his church and gave himself for it.” He pours out even his heart’s blood for the good of men: and hence, dear friends, at this moment our blessed Lord is infinitely superior to Solomon in his influence. Solomon has little or no influence today. Even in his own time he never commanded the influence that Christ had in his deepest humiliation. I do not hear of any who were willing to die for Solomon; certainly no one would do so now. But how perpetually is enthusiasm kindled in ten thousand hearts for Christ! They say that if again there were stakes in Smithfield we should not find men to burn at them for Christ. I tell you, it is not so. The Lord Jesus Christ has at this moment a remnant according to the election of his grace who would fling themselves into a pit of fire for him, and rejoice to do it. “Who shall separate us” — even us poor pygmies — “from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?” “Oh,” one says, “I do not think I could suffer martyrdom.” You are not yet called to do so, my brother, and God has not given you the strength to do it before the need arises; but you will have strength enough if ever it comes to your lot to die for Jesus. Did you never hear of the martyr who, the night before he was to be burned, sat opposite the fire, and, taking his shoe off, he held his foot close to the flame until he began to feel the burning of it? He drew it back and said, “I see God does not give me power to bear such suffering as I put upon myself, but I may none the less doubt,” said he, “that I shall very well withstand the stake tomorrow morning, and burn alive to the death for Christ without recanting.” And so he did, for he was seen never to stir at all while the flames were consuming him. There is a great deal of difference between your strength today and what your strength would be if you were called to some tremendous work or suffering. My Lord and Master, let me tell you, awakens more enthusiasm in human hearts at this moment than any other name in the universe. Napoleon once said, “I founded a kingdom upon force, and it will pass away”; but “Christ founded a kingdom upon love, and it will last for ever and ever.” And so it will. Blot out the name of Christ from the hearts of his people? Strike that sun from the firmament, and quench the stars; and when you have achieved that easy task, yet you have not begun to remove the glory of the indwelling Christ from the hearts of his people. Some of us delight to think that we bear in our body the marks of the Lord Jesus. “Where?” one says. I answer, it is all over us. We have been buried into his name, and we belong to him, in spirit, soul, and body. That watermark, which denotes that we are his, can never be taken out of us. We are dead with him, in whom also we were buried with him and are risen again with him; and there is nothing at this moment that stirs our soul like the name of Jesus. Speak for yourselves. Is it not so? Have you never heard of one who lay dying, his mind wandering, and his wife said to him, “My dear, do you not know me?” He shook his head; and they brought near his favourite child. “Do you not know me?” He shook his head. One whispered, “Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ?” and he said, “He is all my salvation and all my desire.” Oh, blessed name! Blessed name! Some years ago I was away from this place for a little rest, and I was thinking to myself, “Now I wonder whether I really respond to the power of the gospel as I should like to do? I will go and hear a sermon and see.” I would like to sit down with you in the pews sometimes and hear someone else preach, — not everyone, notice, for when I hear a good many, I want to be doing it myself. I get tired of them if they do not glow and burn. But that morning I thought I would drop into a place of worship such as there might be in the little town. A poor, plain man, a countryman, began preaching about Jesus Christ. He praised my Master in very humble language, but he praised him most sincerely. Oh, but the tears began to flow. I soon settled the dust all around me where I sat, and I thought, “Bless the Lord! I do love him.” It only needs someone else to play the harp instead of me, and my soul is ready to dance to the heavenly tune. Only let the music be Christ’s sweet, dear, precious name, and my heart leaps at the sound. Oh, my brethren, sound out the praises of Jesus Christ! Sound out that precious name! There is none like it under heaven to stir my heart. I hope you can all say the same. I know you can if you love him; for all renewed hearts are enamoured by the sweet Lord Jesus. “A greater than Solomon is here.” Solomon has no power over your hearts, but Jesus has. His influence is infinitely greater; his power to bless is infinitely greater; and so let us magnify and adore him with all our hearts.

26. Oh, that all loved him! Alas that so many do not! What strange monsters! Why, if you do not love Christ, what are you doing? You hearts of stone, will you not break? If his dying love does not break them, what will? If you cannot see the beauties of Jesus, what can you see? You blind bats! Oh you who do not know the music of his name, you are deaf. Oh you who do not rejoice in him, you are dead. What are you doing, that you are spared through the pleadings of his love, and yet do not love him? May God have mercy upon you, and bring you to delight yourselves in Christ, and trust him! As for us who do trust him, we intend to love him and delight in him more and more, world without end. Amen.

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Col 1]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Names and Titles — King Of Saints” 390]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, Names and Titles — Jesus” 389]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Jesus Christ, His Praise — ‘Worthy Is The Lamb’ ” 416]

Jesus Christ, Names and Titles
390 — King Of Saints
1 Come, ye that love the Saviour’s name,
   And joy to make it known;
   The Sovereign of your heart proclaim,
   And bow before his throne.
2 Behold your King, your Saviour, crown’d
   With glories all divine;
   And tell the wondering nations round
   How bright those glories shine.
3 Infinite power and boundless grace
   In him unite their rays:
   You that have e’er beheld his face,
   Can you for bear his praise?
4 When in his earthly courts we view
   The glories of our King,
   We long to love as angels do,
   And wish like them to sing.
5 And shall we long and wish in vain?
   Lord, teach our songs to rise!
   Thy love can animate the strain,
   And bid it reach the skies.
6 Oh happy period! glorious day!
   When heaven and earth shall raise,
   With all their powers, the raptured lay
   To celebrate thy praise.
                           Anne Steele, 1760.

Jesus Christ, Names and Titles
389 — Jesus <7.6.>
1 Exult all hearts with gladness
   At sound of Jesus’ name;
   What other hath such sweetness,
   Or such delight can claim?
2 Oh Jesus, Health of sinners,
   Be present to our prayer;
   The wanderer’s Guide become thou,
   And us thy people spare.
3 Thy name, may it defend us,
   Our stay in peril prove;
   And perfect us in blessing,
   And every stain remove.
4 For thee, oh Christ, all glory
   In this blest Name doth shine:
   Thy honour be our worship,
   Oh Jesus, Lord benign.
               John David Chambers, 1857, a.

Jesus Christ, His Praise
416 — “Worthy Is The Lamb” <6.6.4.6.6.6.4.>
1 Glory to God on high!
      Let earth and skies reply,
      Praise ye his name:
   His love and grace adore,
   Who all our sorrows bore,
   Sing aloud evermore,
      Worthy the Lamb!
2 Jesus, our Lord and God,
   Bore sin’s tremendous load,
      Praise ye his name:
   Tell what his arm hath done,
   What spoils from death he won:
   Sing his great name alone:
      Worthy the Lamb!
3 While they around the throne
   Cheerfully join in one,
      Praising his name:
   Those who have felt his blood
   Sealing their peace with God,
   Sound his dear fame abroad:
      Worthy the Lamb!
4 Join all ye ransomed race,
   Our holy Lord to bless;
      Praise ye his name:
   In him we will rejoice,
   And make a joyful noise,
   Shouting with heart and voice,
      Worthy the Lamb!
5 What though we change our place,
   Yet we shall never cease
      Praise his dear name;
   To him our songs we bring,
   Hail him our gracious, King.
   And, without ceasing sing,
      Worthy the Lamb!
6 Then let the hosts above,
   In realms of endless love,
      Praise his dear name;
   To him ascribed be
   Honour and majesty;
   Through all eternity:
      Worthy the Lamb!
                  James Allen, 1761, a.