Ecclesiastes 2:12 What can the man do that cometh after the King? even that which hath been done already.
“The man that cometh after the King” is that company of believers who have forsaken self to come forth in the likeness of their King. A change of nature is wrought in them, because they are willing for the work of the cross to be applied to their self-life. If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. Matthew 16:24-25.
To come after the Lord is to partake of His divine nature, to become as He is. The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord. Matthew 10:24-25.
God has a purpose for this “man company” that forsakes all to become as his King. They are the kings and lords referred to in I Timothy 6:15, “the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” And their works have been foreordained by God. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10.
Those works have already been done in God. When Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:4, He said, I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. Then on the cross, He said, It is finished! (John 19:30). Provision has been made for the final victories. It only remains for a people who “cometh after the King” to do “that which hath been already done.” The Lord gives us (if we are a part of that company, of course) the privilege of executing the judgments written. Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all His saints. Psalm 149:5-9.
Now, before you run off to do “that which hath been already done,” I remind you that you must first “come after the King”; that is, you must become as He is. The privilege of doing “that which hath been done already” is reserved for “the man that cometh after the King.”
Copyright © 1997 by Henry DuBose