The Salvation of the King

‘The Lord is our King; He will save us.’—IsA. xxxiii. 22.
THE thought of salvation is constantly connected with that of kingship. Type, illustration, and prophecy combine them. ‘Thou shall anoint him . . . that he may save my people.’1 ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save my people.” ‘The king saved us.’ ‘A King shall reign; in His days Judah shall be saved.’1 ‘Thy King cometh, . . . having salvation.’*

Because Jesus is our Saviour, He has the right to be our King; but again, because He is King, He is qualified to be our Saviour; and we never know Him fully as Saviour till we have fully received Him as King. His kingship gives the strength to His priesthood. It is as the Royal Priest of the order of Melchisedec that He is ‘able to save.’5 Thus He is ‘a Saviour, and a Great One,’ ‘mighty to save.’8
Our King has not only’ wrought,’ and ‘brought,’ and ‘ made known His salvation,’7 but He Himself is our salvation.8 The very names seem used interchangeably. Isaiah says, ‘Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy Salvation cometh ;” Zechariah bids her rejoice, for’Behold, thy -Kingcometh.’10 Again, Isaiah says,’ Mine eyes have seen the King;’11 and Simeon echoes, ‘Mine eyes have seen thy Salvation,’ 1′ as he looks upon the infant Jesus, the Light to lighten the Gentiles; reminding us again of David’s words, ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation.’15

1 I Sam. ix. 16. 2 2 Sam. iii. i8; ib. xix. 9.
3 Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. 4 Zech. ix. 9.
s Heb. vii. i, 17; ib. vii. 25, ^ Isa. xix. 20; ib. Ixiii. i.
7 Isa, Ixiii. 5. 8 Ps. xcviii. 2. ^ Isa. Ixii. 11.
10 Zech. ix. 9. 11 Isa. vi. 5. 12 Luke ii. 30. 13 Ps, xxvli. I.

It is because we need salvation, because we are surrounded by enemies and dangers, and have no power to help ourselves, and have no other help or hope, that He says, ‘I will be thy King; where is any other that may save thee ?’1 There is no other. ‘He saw that there was no man,’2 and He says, ‘There is no Saviour beside me.’3
What is our response? David begins a Psalm by saying, * Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh my salvation ;’ * but he quickly raises the key, and sings, ‘He only is my salvation.’5 Perhaps we have long been quite clear that He only is our salvation from ‘everlasting destruction;’6 but are we equally clear that He only is (not will be, but is) our present salvation from everything from which we want to be saved ?—from every danger, from every snare,’ from every temptation,8 from ‘the hand of all our enemies,’9 from our sins?10 In death we would cling to the words, ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’11 Why not in life equally cling to, and equally make real use of, the promise, ‘He shall save His people from their sins,’12—not merely from sin in general, but definitely ‘from their sins,’ personal and plural sins? ‘Is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver?’13
His salvation is indeed finished, His work is perfect ;u and yet our King is still ‘working salvation in the midst of the earth,’16 applying the reality of His salvation (if we will only believe His power) to

1 Hos. xiii. lo. 2 Isa. lix. i6. 3 Hos. xiii. 4.
4 Ps. Ixii. I. 6 Ps. Ixii. 2. ^ 2 Thess. i. 9.
7 Ps. xci. 3. 82 Pet. ii. 9, ^ 2 Sam. iii, 18,
10 Tit. ii. 14. 11 I Tim. i. 15. ‘2 Matt. i. 21.
13 Isa, 1. 2. 14 Deut. xxxii. 4. 16 Ps. Ixxiv. 12.

the daily details of our pilgrimage and our warfare. We need it not only at last, but now—every hour, every minute. And the King ‘shall deliver the needy when he crieth,’1 ‘and shall save the souls of the needy.’2
May He say to your soul this day, ‘I am thy salvation.’3
Look away to Jesus,
Look away from all!
Then we need not stumble,

Then we shall not fall.
From each snare that lureth,

Foe or phantom grim,
Safety this ensureth,

Look away to Him!