The Tabernacle 04 the Laver - ex.30: — J. Henry Brown

In Psalms of Solomon, chapter 5, I read that portion last night and will read it again. I want to talk to you a little bit about the Lord's head this morning. What is thy beloved more than another beloved?

The Beloved’s Glory in the Song of Solomon

Verse 9 of chapter 5, O thou fairest among women. What is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost so charge us? Thy beloved is white and ruddy, the cheapest among ten thousand. His hair is as the most fine gold.

His locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are the eyes of dogs by the livers of wadders washed with milk and bitterly thick. His cheeks are as red as spices, as sweet flowers, his lips like lilies throbbing, sweet-smelling myrrh.

His hands are as gold rings set with a barrel. His belly is as bright ivory all laid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as leavened, excellent as the cedars.

His mouth is most sweet. Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Truly that's a wonderful portion from the word of the Lord. I want you to notice in passing, in verse 11, his head is as most fine gold.

Now you know gold speaks of deity, of the glory that belongs to the Lord's person. And again, as you look at verse 14, his hands are as gold rings set with a barrel. And then in verse 15, his legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold.

That's speaking of his feet. See from his head, his hands, his feet, all fine gold. That's the person of our Lord Jesus. Look in contrast in Isaiah chapter 1. Let's turn over page, verse 4. Our sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children of the corruptest.

They have forsaken the Lord and provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. They are gone away backward. Why should ye have stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more. For the whole head is sick and the heart is faint.

From the sole of the foot, even unto the head, there's no soundness in it. But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. What a contrast!

Acceptance in the Beloved and Christ’s Divine-Human Glory

And yet this morning, as we heard earlier in the earlier meeting in Ephesians 1, we have been made accepted in the Beloved. Isn't that wonderful, this morning, to be accepted in all his acceptability, in all his perfectness?

We are accepted in him. What is thy Beloved more than another? Oh, he's beyond compare. There's no comparison here. First, his head is as fine, most fine gold. That's a lovely description, isn't it? Speak to us of his eternity, his deity, his glory.

And yet when he appeared upon earth, he was the man, the God-man, the Divine One. Yes, it speaks about he was hungry. And yet, remember, he took and he sent on the bread of life. He also took those five little loaves and two fishes, and he fed the hungry.

So you see both his humanity, and yet he was Divine One, you see, as man upon the earth. He was asleep in the boat, and yet he stood up, rebuked the wind, and spoke to the sea, peace, the head of gold.

He wept at Lassus' grave, and yet he cried out at the Divine One, Lassus, come forth! And he came forth as given unto me in heaven and in earth. We find him growing in wisdom, and yet at the Divine One he knew all things, he knew all that was in man.

He is the Divine Head of Gold. At the well he sat weary, tired, and yet he revealed himself to that same woman he met at the well, I Am, the great I Am, before Abraham was, I Am. His head is as most fine gold.

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. He was the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending.

We all think that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. He's a wonderful person. Yes, he was delightful with the sons of men, he was ever with the Father. Read Proverbs 8, wonderful description of the Lord Jesus in that wonderful chapter of Proverbs.

So you see, the head of most fine gold. Now I want you to turn back a little bit in this book, chapter 5 again, and in verse 2. Verse 2. I sleep, but my heart waketh. It is the voice of my Beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the troughs of the night.

Restoring Communion with Christ

My head is filled with dew. Here you have the Lord Jesus on the outside. It reminds us of what you have in Revelation chapter 3, verse 20. Behold, I stand, and the door knocketh. If any man hear my voice, and will open to me, I will come in to him, and suckle him, and he with me.

But here the communion is broken. The one that's so precious to her is now standing on the outside. You know, sometimes I believe the believer is right to come to times when the Lord Jesus is sort of on the outside.

Something has come in between the believer and the Lord. Maybe there's been too much business. Maybe too many cares in life. Some other affection has come in. Paul said to the Corinthians, he would like to present them as chaste virgins to Christ.

There's no other lover but Him. But some other lover may be come in between the Lord and your soul. And you find now you've been cooling off like the church of Ephesus we read about in Revelation 2. Thou hast left thy first love.

I wonder if there's a believer here this morning, and you're not as warm as you used to be. You are not as much in love with the Lord Jesus as you once were. What does that mean? That means you have been backsliding.

You've been cooling off. The Lord who was on the throne of your heart and was all in all to you, He's no longer that. He's sort of at a distance to you. He wants to restore you to the joy of your salvation.

He speaks about the Lord Jesus in a sense of standing on the outside. You remember when He said upon earth that the rejected one, He said, The foxes, they have holes, the birds are there, they have nests, but the son of man had nowhere to lay his head.

In the last verse of John chapter 7, it says, Every man went to his own house, but Jesus went up to a mountain to pray. He was on the outside, His head filled, His rock filled with the dew of the night.

Could it be possible that He sort of clouded on the outside in your life? A head once filled with dew. My doubt may underfire, for my head is filled with dew. And all the way back, He says, We confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He wants to come in and be the Lord of your life again. The Lord, imagine the Lord Jesus standing on the outside. Paul says to the Corinthians, He had reigned as king without us. But this is not the reigning time.

This is the day when we suffer with Him. And if we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him. A head filled with dew. I want you to turn to the Mark Gospel. We have a very nice illustration of the head anointed.

Mary of Bethany Anoints Christ’s Head

That's what we'd like to do this morning, is not to anoint Him. Mary of Bethany. It doesn't give a name in the Gospel, but I'm sure it's the same as you have in John 12. It must not be confused with Luke 7, where there's another woman that was her sinner came in and anointed Him.

But that was in Simon the Pharisee's house. This here was in Simon the leper's house. A man that God had wonderfully changed, and he showed his appreciation to the Lord by opening his home and having this feast for him.

In Mark 14, verse 13, Here's a woman that loved the Lord Jesus. Here's a woman that had sat at His feet, as we read in Luke 10, and had learned of Him. She had learned the secret ways of the Lord. Time and time.

In fact, in Mark's Gospel, there's seven times the Lord Jesus told about His rejection and His crucifixion. And somehow the disciples, they missed it. They didn't enter into it. You remember Peter, even on one occasion, he told the Lord, Lord, if they get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savest not the things that be of God.

Not so with Mary of Bethany. She had learned of Him. You know, the secret things of the Lord belong to them that fear Him. To those that are near and close to Him, He reveals His secrets. Mary, the other Mary, remember, out of whom He cast seven demons.

She came also to anoint His body, but it was after He had died. It was the morning of the Resurrection. And she expected to find His body and to anoint it. And she wept because there was no body there.

She should have wept had it been there. But this one, she had the insight. And she said, although the world is going to reject Him and crucify Him and cast Him out, He's going to be rejected of the high priest and the others, I'm going to anoint Him.

Remember in the Old Testament, they took and anointed the priests, they took and they anointed the kings, and Mary, in a sense, is saying, I'm going to anoint Him, King of my life. I crown Thee now, Thine shall the glory be.

They're going to give Him a crown of thorns. They're going to crown Him in mockery. But I crown Him in love and devotion. And she took this flask of ointment that spiked that very precious, and she broke that flask and poured it upon Him.

She anointed His body for His burial, He said. She's done a good reckoning with the testimony of the Lord Jesus. She crowned Him. Oh, He's worthy to be crowned King of our lives. He's worthy of all affection, all devotion, all love to be poured upon Him.

She took that precious ointment of spikenard, and it comes from three original words, understand. One, it was very rare. It came from over trees by the Ganges River in India. She took that ointment of spikenard, that very, very costly and precious ointment, and she poured it upon Him.

Nothing is too good for Him. Those that didn't have the same appreciation of Christ did start finding fault with it. Sometimes people find fault with us spending an hour in His presence and pouring all love upon Him.

My friend, it's not a waste of time. To properly serve, you must worship. And it's very rare to find true worshipers. I'm sure there are a lot of priests here this morning as we worship Him together. You know, the thought behind here, too, it was no imitation.

It was the genuine article. And the Lord's secret worshipers, them that will worship Him in spirit and in truth, He recognizes if it's not so. And it's very costly. I understand it was worth more than a year's home-take-take.

Probably this poor woman's whole life savings. Imagine if she took it all. Could never be used on anyone again. We should pour our lives at His feet. To be used for no one else but Him. I want to say this, too, friend.

If you want to worship the Lord, you must spend time with Him. And in His word, it's costly. Very, very costly. So you see, His head anointed. There's many other things, but time will not permit me to go into it this morning.

Christ’s Crown of Thorns and Rejection

Let's turn to another scripture right here in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 15, and verse 17. And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released the rabbis unto them and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged Him to be crucified.

And the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole band, and they clothed Him with purple and plaited a crown of thorns upon it, or put it about His head.

In John's Gospel, and I think that's a little clearer, in chapter 19 and verse 2. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.

And Pilate said unto them, Behold the man. Now there's what the world thought of Him. There's the world's estimation of our blessed Lord. In mockery they crowned Him with a crown of thorns. You remember where did they get the thorns from?

When God, when Adam sinned against God, God said to him, Because you have done this, you're going to work for the spread of your brow. And He said that the earth was going to be cursed, and it was going to bring forth thorns and thistles.

The very result of man's sin and rebellion against God was put upon Him. He bare our sins in His own body on the tree. Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. He bare the curse, speaks of His rejection.

There's a verse in Hebrews chapter 13, I believe it is. This will appall to the Hebrews. And reading from verse 12. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate, let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.

For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. And then in the gospel of John, chapter 15 and beginning of verse 17. These things I commend you, that ye love one another. Now listen to this.

If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were the world, the world would love its own. But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hated you.

Remember the word that I said unto you, that servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. The rejection, the head crowned with thorns.

But up in chapter 15, a mark again, and verse 19. They get the connection with verse 18, and they began to salute him after they crowned him with thorns. And they said, Hail, hail the Jews. And they smote him on the head with a reed, and it spit upon him, and bowed their knees, worshipped him.

For the gospel says that they smote him with the open palm, they smote him in the face. They buffeted him. There were what the man heaped upon the Lord Jesus. In Psalm 69, I just want to read one verse, verse 26, there,.

For they persecuted him whom thou hast smitten. Now not only did man smite the Lord Jesus and smote him in the face, for his face was so mild, his image was so mild, it was beyond human recognition. That lovely head of the Lord Jesus, crowned with thorns, and they hit him on top of the head with a reed, and then they smote him with the open hand.

Christ Smitten for Sinners

Well, there's something far worse than that. As it says in Psalm 69, verse 26,. For they persecuted him whom thou hast smitten. In Isaiah chapter 53, you all know that chapter so well, but listen as I just read you a verse there, verse 4,.

Surely he had borne all grief and carried all sorrows. We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. My friend, if you're here this morning, and you're not truly born again, if you're not saved, you know not the Lord Jesus.

Remember, it was for you that he was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted when he fell. You were sinning in his own body on the tree, when he hung there between heaven and earth. God turned his back upon him when your sin and my sin were laid upon him.

He said, I sank in deep mire where there's no standing. He cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? For you he was smitten, stricken of God, and afflicted. For you he was beaten upon the head, and he was crowned with thorns.

He bore all that shame when he bared your sin in his own body on the tree. He did all this for you. That lovely head, smitten of God, and afflicted. Then in John, chapter 19, in verse 30, we see something that's wonderful.

At the end of his suffering there, at the end of those six hours, the first tree of the hands of men and the last tree of the hands of God, and we read in verse 30, when Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished.

That man is pained and full. And he bowed his head, and he gave up the goat. He bowed that head. It didn't fall down in weakness, my friend. No man taketh my life from me. I lay down of myself as he bowed his head.

It was a finished accomplishment. He did, he finished what his father gave him to do. The bowed head speaks of the finished accomplishment of redemption for you and for me. It is finished. You cannot add to it.

Salvation work is done. The work that my father gave me to do, shall I not finish it? He did, he completed it. Bowed head of accomplishment, a bowed head of victory. Sometimes when you're speaking the gospel, and you'll be bringing home about men's sins, and suddenly you'll see a man, suddenly bow his head.

You look at him, he can't look back at you. He bows his head. The spirit of God can ditch him of his sins. That's not the type of bowing it is here. Here's a bowed head of a finished accomplishment. The work was done.

Praise God for that. Never to die again. In the end of the age, he had put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Once more, miracles accomplished. The greatest, wonderful work of redemption. And because of that, I want you to turn to Hebrews chapter 2.

Christ Exalted with Glory and Honor

See something about his head now. And that's what we like to do this morning, crown him. But we see Jesus, isn't that nice? Oh, what a sight it is to behold him by faith. We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angel for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.

He's crowned with glory and honor. The one that the men crucified, crowned with thorns of shame and dishonor upon the cross. God has highly exalted him and given him a name that's above every name, that in the name of Jesus, every knee should bow.

And he's crowned with glory and honor. And we say amen. He's worthy of it. And not only that, in Revelation 14 and verse 14,. And I looked and beheld a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown.

A crown of gold with a head of gold, he's worthy. And then in Revelation chapter 19 and verse 12,. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. Many crowns. You saw some of these beasts mentioned in the book of Revelation chapter 9, I think it is.

They had crowns like unto gold. But here's one that's crowned with the pure gold. And he's crowned with many crowns. We've seen sometimes crowned with many crowns. The Lamb upon the throne. Yes, he's worthy to be crowned with many crowns.

Christ as Head over the Church and Nations

In a coming day, maybe now, think about this. The one who's crowned many crowns is given a name that's above every name. In 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 3, we read that Christ is the head of the man. Then in Colossians, if you care to turn to it, chapter 1 and verse 18, we read there, For he is the head of the body, the church.

He's head of the man, he's head of the body, the church. In Psalm 18 and verse 43, we see there that he's head over the nations. Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people, and thou hast made me the head of the heathen, of the nations.

He's the head of the nations. I take great confidence in that. He says, and I say, I think it is, that all the nations are left from the dust and the balances. He's head over all the nations. And then again in Colossians, chapter 2 and verse 10, it not only says there that we're complete in him, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of God.

In verse 9, we are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. Everything in the heavenly, he's head over them all. And that's your Lord, that's my Lord. And we want it to be so.

The Greatness and Saving Power of God

And then I want you to turn to 1 Chronicles, chapter 29. Wonderful portion. And we hear David speaking. Verse 10. Oh, this is beautiful. You notice carefully the words as we read them together. Wherefore David blessed the Lord with all the congregation.

And David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, O Father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in heaven and in earth is thine.

Thine is the kingdom, O Lord. And thou art exalted as head unto all. Head unto all. That's all all is needed. My friend, if you're not saved, it doesn't mean much to you other than this. But I think we have pointed out to you that this is none other than God himself, the eternal Son of God, who is God manifest in the flesh, who came down into this world and took upon himself man in order to die for man's sin.

The one who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And it's been pointed out to you something about his greatness. Well, if he's great like this and such a great God of love, he's able to save you.

And after he saves you, he's able to keep you. And after he keeps you, he's able to present you faultless before his presence at his coming. He's a wonderful Lord. In closing, and I just have one minute left if my eyesight serves me right, I want to read to you a hymn.

All hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angel prostrate fall. Bring forth a royal diadem and crown him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe on this celestial ball. To him all majesty ascribe and crown him Lord of all.

Oh, that with John the saint of Congwe at his feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting song. If you're saved today, would you, again, if you haven't done so before like Mary, crown him Lord of your life.

The Lord from henceforth is not going to be my will, but thy will be done in my life. And if you're not saved, would you say, Lord, I'm a sinner. Save me. And he will. Let's bow and greet with a prayer.

Prayer for Christ’s Lordship and Salvation

Oh, heavenly Father, how we thank thee for our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank thee his head is a pure, fine, pure gold. We thank thee he's the divine, eternal son of God. We thank thee that he was willing to condescend and all to think of the shame that men heaped upon him, crowning him with thorns, smiting him upon the head, disgracing him.

And we thank thee he could say, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. We thank thee for the grace, the love, the power, the glory that belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for thy people here today that we may indeed give him his rightful place in our individual lives.

He may indeed be Lord. And if there's someone in our midst that has never bowed their knee to him and acknowledged him as Lord and Savior, today they may say, Lord Jesus, save me a sinner and become the Lord of my life.

And save me from my sins and make me a real Christian. We thank thee thou has promised him that cometh to me. I will have no wife cast out. So, Lord, use thy word to thy glory. Bless it to thy people.

And to any that may not be saved, may they come to know the Lord Jesus. We pray with thy parting blessing in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.