Spiritual failure.
These words apply to—
I. THE JEWISH CHURCH. Delivered of the demon of idolatry, and having a house "swept and garnished," perfected with all external religious proprieties, it became possessed of the worse demon of hypocrisy—worse in that it was more hopeless. For the idolater may be and often is convicted of his folly and is led into wisdom and piety; but the formalist and hypocrite is scarcely ever, if ever, won from his unreality and spiritual pride.
II. MANY A CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Delivered from worldliness, from vanity, from vice, in the first instance, many a Church has cherished the cruel demon of persecution, or the evil demon of pride, or the dangerous demon of formality. And it proves to be harder to awaken the sinful Church, living under its Lord's condemnation, to a new repentance and a revival of religious earnestness, than it was at first to conduct it into his kingdom. Its last state is less hopeful than the first.
III. MANY A HUMAN SOUL.
1. Men go a very long way in the direction of heavenly wisdom. They listen, they understand, they feel, they purpose, they pray, they profess, they preach or teach Divine truth to others, they conform their conduct to the requirements of the Word of God.
2. In this good course they are arrested, and they return on their way. Their devotedness slackens; their habits of worship become less regular; their habits of life become less scrupulous; the "spirit of their mind" grows secular, and indeed profane; they fall out of the ranks of the earnest, and, at last, even of the reverent; perhaps they descend to the unworthy, and even to the criminal. Not literally, but metaphorically speaking, there are "evil sprats" in them. They "are gone away backward."
3. Thus returning, they have almost hopelessly separated themselves from Christ; the "last state of that man is worse than the first" (see Hebrews 6:4-6). Not that renewal is absolutely" impossible," but it is so spiritually difficult and so exceedingly rare that it may be said to be morally impossible. You cannot restore elasticity to the spring that has been overbent. You cannot make pungent again the salt that has lost its savor. You cannot infuse new force into truths which an emasculating familiarity has deprived of their virtue and their interest. Far more hopeless is the condition of the human soul that has drifted away from Christ than the one that has never heard of his Name or never been impressed with his claims. Therefore what?
Christ and Solomon.
It is one of the strong arguments in favor of our Lord's Divinity that, while there was that about him which made him free to claim for himself the attribute of meekness (Matthew 11:29), and which saved him from the charge of immodesty, yet was there in him a wonderful and wholly exceptional consciousness of greatness. On appealing to his own consciousness, he found himself anterior in existence to Abraham (John 8:58); greater (of more consequence to the nation) than the very temple itself, that object of boundless veneration (Matthew 12:6); living in heaven even while dwelling on the earth (John 3:13); associated in the most intimate way possible and (to us) inconceivable with the Divine Father (John 5:19; John 6:46; John 10:30); wiser and worthier than the "wise man" himself (text). It may not be surprising that One claiming to be a Prophet should believe himself to be superior in worth and work to Jonah; for there was nothing remarkably great either in the moral character or in the professional course of that erratic prophet. But in respect to Solomon? It may be said that only One who could claim to be highest among the highest was entitled to say, "I am greater than he." But the actual superiority of Christ to Solomon is apparent enough if we consider—
I. THE DIGNITY OF HIS PERSON. The Son of David was great, as such; but nothing in comparison with the Son of God. The King of Israel was great, as such; but nothing when compared with the Prince of peace, with him "who sitteth on the throne" of heaven.
II. THE CHARACTER OF THE WISDOM. Solomon was very learned in the knowledge of his age (1 Kings 4:29-34); he was also very skilled in the intellectual conflicts of his time (1 Kings 10:1-29.); he had, moreover, a very keen discernment of the ways and wants and weaknesses of human nature (Proverbs). And he had (what Jesus Christ had not) an acquaintance, gained by his own experience, of the hollowness of earthly greatness, of the pitiful consequences of human folly. But the wisdom of Christ was the wisdom of God. For such he had, and such indeed he was. He was "the Truth" (John 14:6); he was "the Wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24, 1 Corinthians 1:30). He knew and taught mankind, as Solomon could not do, the nature and the will of God (Luke 10:22); the capacities and the possibilities of man (John 2:25); the way home to God (John 14:6); the secret of spiritual triumph (Matthew 10:39); the glory and the shame awaiting the faithful and the unfaithful in the future (Matthew 25:1-46.).
III. THE BEAUTY AND EXCELLENCY OF HIS LIFE. Beginning admirably (1 Kings 3:5), and continuing well for a season, Solomon gave way to dangerous luxury, to selfish and exacting legislation, and at last to moral corruption (1 Kings 11:1-10). The surpassing beauty of the character of Jesus Christ became more manifest as his life continued, and it culminated in a supreme act of self-sacrifice which is the crowning glory of his life.
IV. THE GLORY OF HIS CAREER. Solomon's career began in brilliance, it remained bright for many years; but its light waned as his character declined, and it was concluded in sombre shadows. The career of Jesus Christ began in lowliest obscurity, it continued in struggle and in sorrow for a while; but it has risen into the light, it becomes ever more blessed as his influence grows ever wider and deeper; it will not be complete until all the kingdoms of the earth are in subjection to his holy will.
1. Are we wise in the wisdom of Christ?
2. Are we the subjects of his benignant rule?—C.