The throne of God.
The Greek conception of God was intellectual; the Hebrew, moral To the Hellenic thought he was the Supreme Mind; to the Jewish he was the Supreme Will and Authority. The one conceived him as the Architect of the universe, displaying his intelligence in a vast design; the other, as the Sovereign Ruler of all things. Thus the Hebrew symbol of the Divine is a glory above a heavenly throne, and with the Jew the most significant Divine thing is the throne. Each thought is true, and our later Christian theology combines them both. But there is an awful sublimity in the Old Testament religion springing from the moral and governmental view of God, and to miss this is to sink into naturalism. The modern tendency is in some respects diverting attention from the Hebrew Throne to the Greek Mind. We need to revive the Old Testament element of the thought of God. Perhaps greater regard to this will help us to face some of the peculiar difficulties of our own day.
I. THE THRONE OF GOD IS SUPREME. The throne seen in Ezekiel's vision was "in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim." The most exalted and glorious beings lie at the foot of that awful throne.
1. God rules. He is will as well as thought. He does not merely know; he acts.
2. God rules in the present. Men rebel against the authority of God. Nevertheless, it still exists. It is not only that we shall appear before a future judgment bar of God. Already we live under his constant reign.
3. God's rule is supreme. Death, sin, Satan, are all beneath God, and ultimately they will be conquered and crushed, that he may be all in all Even Christ, who sits at the right hand of God, is "subject to him" (1 Corinthians 15:27, 1 Corinthians 15:28).
II. THE THRONE OF GOD IS RIGHTEOUS AND THEREFORE GLORIOUS.
1. It is righteous. The justice of God's rule is not treated in the Old Testament as a source of terror, but, on the contrary, it is always praised and rejoiced in. The old cruel earthly tyrannies were felt to be so horribly unjust, that men turned with a sense of relief to the justice of the Supreme King. God is the Personal "Power that makes for righteousness." The end of his government is the highest goodness.
2. It is therefore glorious. The old glory of mere brute force with the triumph of cruelty is a low and vulgar folly by the side of this Divine glory of righteousness. Here is the greatest glory of God—not his omniscience nor his omnipotence, not the irresistible might and overwhelming majesty of his throne, but its righteousness. It is not a blood stained glory of the earthly conqueror, but the sapphire beauty of perfect purity, truth, justice, and benevolence.
III. THE THRONE OF GOD IS A CENTRE OF DIVINE REVELATION. The Greek method of seeking for God is by the way of intellect. The Great Mind is looked for in his plans. The Architect cf the universe is to be found by using the "argument from design." But latterly this Aristotelian method has been confused in the minds of some—though, doubtless, only temporarily and by misunderstanding—through the spread of the doctrine of evolution. Meanwhile our own age seems to need to return to the Hebrew method. Our best teachers point us in this direction. God is not chiefly the Infinite Intellect. He is the Will and the Power of right. We feel him in all force. But we discern him best in our own consciences. The unanswerable voice within that whispers, "Thou shalt" or "Thou shalt not," is an utterance from the throne of God, and it bears witness to the existence, and more than the existence, the authority, of our supreme Lord and King.