2 Kings 11

The King's Crown

Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown upon him. 2 Kings 11:12.

Did you ever notice how many different kinds of crowns are mentioned in the Bible? There are the king's crown, and the priest's crown, and the victor's crown. There is the crown of thorns which Jesus wore. And besides these we read of a “crown of glory,” a “ crown of righteousness,” and a “crown of life.”

Now you know that a crown is not just a mere meaningless ornament like a necklace or a bracelet. It stands for power, or honor, or victory, or consecration. It is the sign or symbol, as we say, of something else. And so I should like to tell you about some of these crowns what they stand for, and how we too can wear them.

I think we shall begin with the king's crown, because it is the one we all know best. The king's crown has had rather an unusual history. First of all it was just a band or fillet of silk or linen which was bound round the head and fastened behind. Such a fillet was worn as a badge of royalty by the Persian monarchs. The Greeks called it diadema which just means “something bound round”; and it is from this

Greek word that our English word “diadem” comes Sometimes these royal fillets were beautifully embroidered or even studded with jewels, but they must have looked very different from the crowns we know.

From the Persians the custom of wearing this royal badge spread to other nations, and it was most probably with just such a fillet that the little king in our text was crowned. Some people say that this was also the form of the diadems of our own early Saxon kings.

Later a band of gold took the place of the band of silk or linen. Then by degrees ornaments were added, and additions were made to this plain band, until at last it grew into the crown as we know it.

Now perhaps you may think that all this is quite interesting, but it hasn't got very much to do with you or me. We are not born kings, you say, we are just very plain, ordinary, everyday sort of people, and we shall never have the chance of wearing a crown.

Well, let me tell you a secret. You are not born a king, but you are born to he a king. That is what God meant you to be, and it depends on yourself whether you will be one or not. Shall I tell you the name of the kingdom over which you are called to rule? It is the kingdom of Self, and that is a very big and difficult kingdom to control.

Some people are quite content to be slaves instead of kings. They let Self rule them instead of ruling Self. They are like the lion in a story I read the other day that wanted to turn things upside down.

Long, long ago there stood at the gate of a walled city a beautiful statue. It was carved in marble and it represented a man and a lion. The man was standing with his foot on the lion to show that he had conquered it. But one day, so the story goes, a real live lion came past that way. He stopped to look at the statue and this is what he growled: “Silly sort of idea that; but it's just like these humans! Now if I had carved that statue, I'd have had the man lying down and the lion with his paw on him.” And so I daresay he would!

But you see we are not meant to let the lion or any other kind of beast get the better of us, you and I; we are meant to get the better of them. We are not meant to let our angry passions, or our selfish wishes, or our bad desires conquer us; we are meant to conquer them. We are not called to be slaves, we are called to be kings and conquerors.

But there is one thing we must remember, boys and girls. If we want to be kings and queens, real kings and queens, we must have the kingly heart.

Once the soldiers of Alexander the Great complained to him that one of his generals, Antipater, did not dress grandly enough. They themselves were decked out in the purple of conquerors, but he was plainly and soberly clad. And what do you think Alexander replied? “Antipater,” he said, “is all purple within.”

Antipater wore the royal color, the color of the conqueror, on his heart; he had the noble, kingly heart, and that counted for far more than outward show.

And where can we get this kingly heart? From the King of kings and from Him alone. On the reverse side of gold and silver articles there used to be stamped a likeness of the head of the reigning sovereign. That showed that duty had been paid to him. Boys and girls, if we want to carry the kingly heart, then we must ask the King of kings to stamp His likeness on us. Then, and only then, shall we be fit to wear the royal crown . (The texts of the other sermons in this series are Exodus 39:30, Joh 19:2, 1 Corinthians 9:25.)