“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
—Psalm 2:12
The late Dr. George Gill used to tell us in class, “ ‘Kiss the Son’ is the Old Testament way of saying, ‘… Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved …’ (Acts 16:31).” “Kiss the Son.”
Do you remember who kissed Him? Have you ever noted what our Lord said to Judas after he kissed Him? The theologians today argue about predestination and election and predetermination and foreknowledge, and that this man Judas could not help what he did since it had been prophesied he would do it. Now I’m going to let the theologians handle that. I’m just a poor preacher who doesn’t know very much; so I stay away from those problems and let the theologians solve them.
However, after I listen to them awhile I have a sneaking feeling they haven’t solved them. Notice what the Bible says, and it is well to listen to the Bible rather than to the theologians.
Remember at Jesus’ betrayal when Judas led the mob out to apprehend Jesus in the garden, he said, “I’ll identify him for you by kissing Him.” So he came to Jesus and kissed Him.
Have you noted what Jesus said to him? “And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? …” (Matthew 26:50). Why did He say that? Didn’t He know why Judas had kissed Him? Of course He did. Then why did He call him friend? What did He mean?
Let me suggest this. “Judas, you have just kissed Me, which has fulfilled prophecy, and has satisfied all the theologians who are going to come along. Now you are free to turn and accept Me, free to turn that kiss of betrayal into a kiss of acceptance. You can do that, Judas. You are a free moral agent.” And the Spirit of God says, “Kiss the Son. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
My friend, the Spirit of God today is in the world saying to mankind, “Kiss the Son before it is too late. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ before it is too late.” He is coming some day, and He is going to establish His kingdom here upon this earth. He is going to rule, and He is going to put down all rebellion. He will bring peace and harmony to this little earth.
When I first went to Nashville, Tennessee, as a pastor, some friends, thinking they were doing me a favor, called me and said, “We have tickets for the symphony orchestra that’s coming to town, and we want to take you as our guest.” Well, I love music, but I know nothing about it; and I can’t sing it—I always help congregational singing by keeping quiet. Frankly, I can’t think of anything more boring than a whole evening of symphony! But I had to go because they were polite and I wanted to be polite, so I accepted graciously and went along.
I had never been to a thing like that before, and I was impressed by what I saw. We went in, took our seats, and in a few moments the musicians began to drift out from the stage sides. They were in shirt sleeves for the most part, and each man went up to his instrument and started tuning it. The fellows with the fiddles too big to put under their chins sawed back and forth—oh, it sounded terrible. The fellows with the little ones they put under their chins squeaked up and down with those. The ones with the horns—oh my, nothing was in harmony. It was a medley of discordant, confused noise.
Then after they got through with that kind of disturbance, they all disappeared again—went out through the wings. Another five minutes went by, when all of a sudden the lights in the auditorium went off, the lights on the platform came on, and the musicians walked out. This time they had on their coats. My, they looked so nice. Each one came out and stood or sat at his instrument.
Then there was a hush in the auditorium, a spotlight was focused on the wings, and the conductor stepped out. When he did, there was thunderous applause for him. He bowed. Then he came up to the podium and picked up a thin little stick. He turned around again to the audience and bowed, then turned his back to the audience, lifted that little stick—total silence came over that auditorium, you could have heard a pin drop—then he brought that little stick down. And, my friend, there were goose pimples all over me. I never heard such music in all my life. Oh, what harmony, what wonderful harmony there was!
Today I live in a world where every man is tooting his own little horn. Every little group wants to be heard. Everybody wants to tell you what he thinks. Everybody is playing his own little fiddle, and I want to tell you, it’s a medley of discord. Everything is out of tune.
But one of these days the spotlight is going on, and the Lord Jesus Christ will come. When He comes to this universe, He is going to lift His scepter, and everything that is out of tune with Him is going to be removed. Then when He comes down with that scepter—oh, the harmony that will be in this universe!
I’m thankful today that I do live in a universe where I can bow to Him, and I can bring this little instrument of my body, my life, into tune with Him. I can bow to Him, I can acknowledge Him, I can make Him my Savior and Lord.
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I would add, you can too.
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