In Paul's closing words in Timothy he called attention to the fact that Luke was with him, which is a spiritual intimation that Luke's service was closely associated with Paul's. Luke's writings I present things which are essential to the understanding of Paul. He alone of the evangelists relates particularly the circumstances connected with the Lord being carried up into heaven. Paul was converted by seeing Jesus in heaven as the glorified One, but the Person whom he came to know as in heaven had been seen on earth by eye-witnesses, and we need the gospels, and particularly Luke, to give us the knowledge of the Person who is now in heaven. We need to learn Him as He was here that we may know Him where He is in heaven. The One who is now in heaven has trodden this earth as the lowly Man; He has been seen and heard and attended by a company of persons who became acquainted with Him. This gospel is written that we might have the supreme favour from God of seeing and hearing in a spiritual way what those saw and heard who were eye-witnesses and attendants on the Word. We have tile privilege of sharing with them what they saw and heard in that blessed One. No greater favour could be shown us, and if we do not know what it is to study Him in His course through this world we shall not know Him as He is now in heaven. Our knowledge of Him in heaven is dependent On what was disclosed in Him down here.
Luke and Paul were both in the same position as ourselves in regard to the Lord as seen down here; neither of them had known Him thus personally, but Luke became accurately acquainted from the origin with all things concerning Him, and God had taken Luke up to communicate accurate knowledge and certainty as to these things. There are certain "matters fully believed among us". The believing company is still on earth, and certain matters are fully believed in that company. Thank God it is so! But that does not deprive us of the privilege of knowing the certainty of those things. The gospel of Luke is largely the unfolding of the glory of the Lord as the
Mediator and as we contemplate it by the Spirit we shall be changed into the same image.
To Luke as to John the Lord was "the Word". I have often wondered why we do not speak more of Christ as the Word. It was evidently a common and well-known designation of Him, for both Luke and John use it as a well-known title. It conveys that God is now in full expression as to His mind and nature in a Man. We have to do now with matters that are far greater than creation. God could speak in power and creation came into being. John tells us that "without him not one thing received being that has received being", but there was not in that any communication of the mind of God, or any disclosure of what He was in His nature and character. Now there is the full telling out of what God is in His nature, in His thoughts, in His heart, and this in One who trod this earth as Man, who was seen and heard and attended by men like ourselves. A man might make a watch if he was skilful enough; God could make one by a word; but there would not be any expression of God's thoughts or of His heart in making a watch, a world, or a universe. That would not bring out God's mind or His heart, but "the Word" does. Revelation is greater than creation. Men and women like ourselves were privileged to be eye-witnesses of and attendants on the Word. They were privileged to be in His retinue, and the Spirit of God would give us, through the gospels, the privilege of personal nearness to the Word. One would judge that the greatness of divine revelation was very much before the minds of the apostles and early saints. They thought and spoke much of "the Word". We think of Christ as Lord, as Saviour, as Head, and as Priest, and these are wonderful titles and characters, but how great and glorious He is as "the Word"! John and Luke had an immense sense of it. In the Word God expressed what was in His mind and His heart, what He is in His very nature. It bows one's soul to think of it. It was a necessity to God's love that He should speak out of His nature, His thoughts and His heart, and that He should have beings capable of appreciating it. It was not like a royal visit when some great personage comes, and there is reserve; everybody must be respectful; there are soldiers to keep the people back; all is in formal and stately splendour. There is nothing like that here. Peter says, "the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us". It was a lowly Man coming in and going out
in all the ordinary circumstances of human life, but in those circumstances expressing the nature and character of God and the activities of God in boundless favour and grace towards men. He was "The Word". It says in Hebrews I that God spoke in the Person of the Son. We do not wonder that many took in hand to record it. How could they help it? "Many have undertaken to draw up a relation concerning the matters fully believed among us". What men saw and heard -- what held them in attendance upon Him -- was the wonder of the expression He was giving of God. Sinful men, for the first time, saw and heard "the Word". It would have been strange if many had not undertaken to draw up a relation concerning such matters. They are matters of such profound interest and importance to all men that to know of them kindles a desire to make them known. We can say with deep thankfulness that these matters are "fully believed among us".
God has been particularly favourable to us in employing a Gentile to write this gospel. Luke was probably a Gentile and he was writing to a Gentile, whose name means "Lover of God". That this wonderful gospel should be written to one individual shows the delight that God has in making Himself known to one man. Each individual reader can take it all to himself. God has been very favourable to us in enabling Luke to put these matters on record in a divine way. Other people had done their best, but that was not good enough for us; God took up Luke and made him the medium of these communications by the Holy Spirit, so that all these matters concerning the Word should be made known to us accurately and with method. It is the consideration of divine grace for us; we might well admire and adore the grace that has given us such a gospel.
Luke is writing to a lover of God, and it is only such who can appreciate his gospel in a spiritual way. He also calls attention to the fact that he writes "with method", he puts everything in order; so we have to notice in Luke not only what he writes but where and how he puts things. It is like a beautiful picture gallery, but the pictures are not hung anyhow; every picture is in its right place; everything is "with method". So we may not only admire Luke's pictures by looking at them in an isolated way, but we may see that every picture has its place in the series. Luke takes up incidents,
and puts them just where they are "with method"; he has an object in it.
The first feature of method which we notice is that Luke introduces us to what may be called a priestly atmosphere. It is as much as to say that the things he is about to write can only be entered upon in spiritual conditions. So he brings before us first priestly conditions and an atmosphere of prayer. He sheds the perfume of incense over the opening of his gospel, indicating conditions which are suitable to what God was about to introduce, and also that this gospel must be approached in a priestly spirit if we wish to apprehend the substance of it in spiritual reality. No doubt we are all familiar with the text; believers generally are as familiar with Luke as with any part of Scripture, but there must be suitable conditions if we are to enter into it with spiritual appreciation. So we find a man and his wife here, both of the priestly family, and both walking consistently with the light that God had given them up to that time. If we are not walking in consistency with the light that has been given to us we are not in a condition to get more. These two, Zacharias and Elizabeth, were in accord with the light that God had given to them, fearing Jehovah and walking blamelessly before Him, and Zacharias was engaged in the priestly service of offering incense. Incense in Scripture is typical of prayer (Psalm 141:2), but of a special character. I have no doubt that this gospel has in view the setting up of priestly conditions. It ends by showing us a company of persons in the temple praising and blessing God. There is a praying company in the temple at the beginning of the gospel, but all their prayers are answered at the end, so they are praising and blessing God. If our prayers have incense character they will surely eventuate in our praising and blessing God. The psalmist said, "Let my prayer come before thee as incense" -- it should be an exercise with us whether our prayers have this character.
Incense according to Exodus 30 is very precious; it was composed of fragrant drugs and pure frankincense, but compounded according to the art of the perfumer; it was pure and salted and holy. That indicates a character of prayer that is delightful to God. Incense is prayer that is in accord with the mind of God. The most wonderful example of prayer that was truly incense is recorded in John 17; every grain of that precious prayer was indeed fragrant. If we read Paul's prayers
for the Colossians and Ephesians we see in them prayers that had the character of incense; every grain of those prayers was fragrant to God as the expression of His own thoughts for His people. In the Lord's prayer we do not find the slightest allusion to any failure on the part of His saints. And in Paul's prayers there is no allusion to any failure on their part; he is entirely occupied with the thoughts of God about His people. That is incense. I have no doubt that Zacharias had prayed on that line. The angel said, "Thy supplication has been heard". It was many years before that he had prayed for a son, and the answer given showed the kind of spirit in which he had prayed. He had evidently wanted a son who should be in some way an expression of God's favour to Israel, and the angel said, Your prayers shall be answered; you shall have a son and his name shall be called John (meaning The favour of God), and many of the sons of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. Zacharias had longed that the sons of Israel should be turned to the Lord their God. That is the kind of prayer that is truly incense. Then in this chapter the fragrance of incense was going up inside the temple and the people were in accord with it; they were praying outside.
If we are to profit from Luke's gospel we shall have to pray in our chambers, in our households, and in our meetings. It is no good to think of reading the gospel of Luke without prayer. The Lord is specifically presented as the Man of prayer in this gospel; there are at least seven instances of His praying. We have the privilege of caring for the interests of God in our rooms and households. If we pray in our own rooms we shall find it so sweet that we would not like to deny ourselves the privilege of praying in our households, and we shall find that so sweet that it would lead to our taking up the privilege of praying in the assembly. God would not have dumb priests; such a one is not equal to his own desires. We often have holy and spiritual desires, but we are not equal to them, and so we come under some expression of God's displeasure. God was displeased with the unbelief of Zacharias, and He is displeased with us if we are not equal to our prayers. We have perhaps often had to confess that when we have got off our knees we have been characterised by something quite contrary to what we have been praying about.
This chapter brings out the fact that God will move on in His grace in spite of the unbelief that will not trust Him to do
it. The angel says, "the which shall be fulfilled in their time"; that is, faith or no faith, God says, 'I am going on with My thoughts of grace'. What we see in this gospel is an irresistible and unquenchable grace, so that, even when a man prays and is not equal to his own prayers, God says, 'I am equal to them, and I am going to answer them, I am going to carry out not only what was in your heart, but all that is in My heart!' God is going to do it in His persistent grace, He reaches the fulfilment of His own thoughts in spite of unbelief. I suppose everyone who has read these early chapters of Luke has been impressed by the nearness of heaven which is disclosed in them. In Matthew the communications from heaven are in measure veiled; an angel appears to Joseph but it is in a dream; there are no dreams in Luke. There is a, certain suggestion of distance about a dream, but what strikes one here is the personal and intimate character of the communications from heaven.
Zacharias was a priest morally as well as officially; he had known what it was to draw near to God in private. And, as we have noticed; he had desired some mark of God's favour to Israel. We have referred to his unbelief, but it is well to bear in mind that his exercises before God had been very genuine, and had been regarded by God, and they were answered by glad tidings from heaven. The very mind of God as known in heaven was revealed in glad tidings to a man on earth. A heavenly personage appeared to Zacharias. It is interesting to see that angels have names which are expressive of what God is: Michael means, "Who is like God?" and Gabriel means, "God is mighty". Gabriel's accustomed place was to stand before God; he was sent to Zacharias as one conversant with the mind of God as it was known in heaven.
The angel appeared "on the right side of the altar of incense". It was not at the brazen altar, though no doubt the morning or evening lamb had been offered there, nor would we forget that the blood of the sin offering had been put on the horns of the altar of incense. But Luke does not introduce the sacrificial side; the altar of incense is the point at which the communications from heaven come in. It does not speak of dealing sacrificially with sin in the way of atonement -- deeply essential as that is -- but the burning of holy fragrance before God in which He could find delight. It suggests that the favourableness of God to men is according to Christ; His thoughts of
favour manward have found expression in Christ, and they are a delight to God as expressed in Him. God was about to have One on earth in whom He could delight as the full setting forth of His favour to men. There was sweet fragrance in this for the heart of God.
"The right" is the favourable side; the Lord sets the sheep on His right hand, and when Bathsheba came to Solomon he caused a throne to be set for her on his right hand; it is the place of favour, and here in Luke I it is expressive of the favour of God to men. The birth of John was announced there, John means "The favour of God". The great thought in Luke is the favour of God to men; heaven draws near at the right of the altar of incense. Luke does not dwell on the sacrificial side, but the side of divine favour to men. So the death of Jesus in Luke is not presented from the sacrificial side, but rather as in Hebrews 2, "that by the grace of God he should taste death for everything". It is the extreme favour d to men set forth in the death of Jesus. All the grace been brought near to men in this world; the of it came by a great and heavenly personage, to Zacharias or to Mary; it was by one whose name set forth the might of God, but whose service revealed that the might of God was acting in favourableness to men. The greatness of God in His grace to men is what is magnified in Luke. We might well say with David, "Great is Jehovah, and exceedingly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable", Psalm 145:3. Later in this gospel we read that "all were astonished at the glorious greatness of God", chapter 9: 43. It is not a question in this gospel merely of meeting man's need but of the revelation of God's greatness in grace. The end in view is that God may have good pleasure in men.
name means "The favour of God". No doubt Zacharias had prayed that he might have a son who would be the expression of the favour of God to the sons of Israel, and his subsequent unbelief did not invalidate the genuineness of his exercises before God, nor prevent God from answering those exercises by bringing in His own favour. There never had been such an expression of divine favour in this world before, because John was not to be like an Old Testament prophet who could speak of divine intervention as a more or less distant prospect. John was to be the immediate forerunner of Jesus; that is why he was
great before Jehovah as expressing divine favour to men as no prophet had ever expressed it. Gabriel announced the birth of John as glad tidings from heaven; he would be joy and rejoicing to Zacharias, and many should rejoice at his birth, for he would be great before Jehovah. He would not be marked by natural energy or excitement -- wine or strong drink -- but by being filled sovereignly with the Holy Spirit. He would be the expression of the sovereign favour of God in regard of Israel's departure from Him. He would be a vessel of divine power and grace to turn many of the sons of Israel to their God. It was when the sons of Israel had departed from God, that divine favour came in to turn them to Jehovah their God. It was all to make ready for the Lord a prepared people. There must be a people prepared to appreciate the grace that was coming out of heaven -- the divine favour to men that was about to be expressed in Jesus. We all have to be prepared to appreciate it as much as the sons of Israel had to be prepared.
In Mary we see divine favour magnified more than in any other instance. No human being was ever the subject of such favour as Mary; Gabriel's salutation to her was, "Hail, favoured one!" His coming to her is not presented as being in answer to her exercises, but as the unsought and blessed outflow of the favour of heaven. That is the character of Luke's gospel -- heaven breaking forth into this world so as to bring divine joy to the children of men. It is not divine favour known providentially or in changed circumstances for men, but God Himself coming in in a grace that surpasses everything, in grace that was as high above the thoughts of men as heaven is above the earth. Mary is in one way a contrast to Zacharias; in Zacharias there was self-consideration which led to unbelief, but in Mary there was complete absence of self-consideration. She yielded herself to God to be the vessel for the working out of His supreme thoughts of grace. She said, "Behold the bondmaid of the Lord; be it to me according to thy word". There was no self-consideration. Elizabeth might well say, "Blessed is she that has believed". Mary is an outstanding example in Scripture of a believer. Heaven was about to break forth in the way of boundless favour to men, and there was one heart at least divinely prepared to appreciate it. The thought of it raises exercise as to whether we are prepared to appreciate through divine grace the great things of God which are unfolded in this gospel. Mary only
asked how. It was a question of faith, not unbelief. She was not dumb; how beautifully she spoke! It is to be noticed that she did not speak as being full of the Holy Spirit like Elizabeth or Zacharias. She spoke out of her own faith and her own simple joy in grace. "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour". It is the precious and holy activity of Mary's own spirit that is brought before us; she could say these things as being equal to them in her own spirit. To speak out of one's own spirit and one's own understanding, is in one sense a greater thing than to speak in the power of the Holy Spirit, because in the former case we have a person formed intelligently in the things of which he speaks. The Spirit might take up a vessel like Balaam and make him say wonderful things that he knew nothing about himself, but it is a greater thing to say things about divine favour as knowing the blessedness of them oneself. Mary was a suitable vessel to be taken up in divine favour, and what she was came out in what she said. She was imbued with the spirit of her sister Hannah in the Old Testament.
I think we should he justified in regarding Mary as the representative of that humanity with which the Lord was about to identify Himself. Mary was saluted from heaven as a favoured one -- "Hail, favoured one", and "Thou hast found favour with God". It was not a question of meeting need but of divine favour being expressed from the height of heaven. The birth of the Holy Child Jesus as conceived and born of a woman was the supreme expression of that favour. There could be no closer identification with humanity than to be born of a woman. "Come of woman", Paul says. How favourable God is to men! He would send forth His Son, come of a woman, as a Child born. The prophetic word had said, "Unto us a child is born". Mary was actually His mother, but He was born unto us who are of the race of men; He came forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse. May the greatness of it arrest, and hold our hearts! The Scripture we have read is covered by the two statements -- "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given". The Child born secures everything in divine favour for men, the Son given secures supreme delight for God in Man. In the apprehension of this, God would enable us to give Him a Name, He would enable us to call Him Jesus. God would have all that is covered or expressed in that Name -- the infinitude of divine favour manward -- to be
intelligently recognised by us -- "Thou shalt call his name Jesus". There can be no greater thought of divine favour than is expressed in that Name. It means "Help of Jehovah" or ". Salvation of Jehovah". We get God's help or salvation for men spoken of typically or prophetically in the Old Testament, but now it is in One who comes in in a divine way as born to us. All the grace of heaven is in that Name of Jesus, brought into humanity so as to be recognised and known by men. Have we learned to name Him as the expression of infinite divine favour?
The angel said to the shepherds, "Fear not, for behold, I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people: for today a Saviour has been born to you in David's city, who is Christ the Lord". The coming in of this Child has a bearing in divine favour towards all men. In the gospel of Luke it is not only that man needs God, but that God needs man in order that He may express in man and towards man the favour of His own heart. Jesus coming in manhood is all for men. It is sovereign in the sense that God took His own way unsolicited; He moved according to His own pleasure in causing the Dayspring from on high to visit us -- the shining forth from heaven of what was in His own heart.
I do not wonder that Satan makes every effort by his servants to cast doubt on the virgin birth of Jesus. If he can succeed in that he has gained his, whole object; he has robbed us of all that the birth of Jesus means: he has robbed us of the favour of God, and of God's salvation. If Nazareth and Bethlehem go, Calvary goes also, and there is no Jesus of Nazareth glorified at the right hand of God. The whole fabric of Christianity is gone.
In order to understand the expression, "He shall be great and shall be called Son of the Highest" we must go to chapter 6: 34, 35. "If ye lend to those from whom ye hope to receive, what thank is it to you? For even sinners lend to sinners that they may receive the like. But love your enemies and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Highest". The Highest as referred to in Luke seems to refer to the way in which God is above all the evil of men. He is so great and so high that the evil of men does not hinder Him; He moves on in the height of His own blessed way of grace and
goodness because of what He is. The greatness of Jesus as Son of the Highest is the greatness of superiority over evil, He was unhindered by it. God goes on with His elevated thoughts, He is not diverted from them by the evil in man. God's intent is to bring men into correspondence with Himself.
If God is superior to all the evil in men and is favourable to them in spite of the evil in them, He takes account of the fact that there are powers adverse to men, and that is why the throne comes in. "The Lord God shall give him the throne of David his father" -- David's throne was a victorious throne. What marked his reign was the subjugation of all that was adverse to Israel. God takes account of man as having fallen under the power of things that are adverse to him, but God is favourable to man and He has set up a throne in Jesus, a throne of unchallenged supremacy over every power that is adverse to man. It had pleased God to put men in positions of rule, but they had all failed; but now He speaks of One who would meet victoriously all the powers that are adverse to man -- Satan, principalities, authorities, and all the influences emanating from them, and even death itself. The throne has proved itself supreme, and will do so publicly ere long.
His reigning over the house of Jacob brings out the calling and election of God, in sovereignty. But for that there would be no subjects for the reign of Jesus. Jacob needed lifelong discipline; he had to be corrected and adjusted, but God had taken him up in grace and faithfulness, and He did not finish with him until He had brought about what He intended. He said to him, "I will not leave thee until I have done what I have spoken to thee of". Jesus reigns over the house of Jacob; all the subjects of divine calling and election come under the sway of Jesus. God's object in His calling and election is to secure a people who shall come effectively under the sway of Jesus -- under the influence of divine grace set forth in Him -- and as we do so we shall reach eternal life; that is suggested in the words, "of his kingdom there shall not be an end". Nothing more is needed to bring us into eternal life than to be under the sway of Jesus. Supreme grace in Jesus brings in eternal life, for it brings in conditions that displace lawlessness and idolatry, and the power of death.
"Mary said to the angel, How shall this be?" When there is any difficulty as to divine things and we ask for explanation, we always get an enlargement of what has been spoken of
When the Lord explained His parables He always added their import. When Mary asked Gabriel how this was to be, she got great enlargements. It is noticeable that in the first statement Mary is prominent as the subject of divine favour, but in answer to her question the angel turns to speak of things on the divine side, so what is prominent is the Holy Spirit, the power of the Highest, and the Holy Thing that shall be called Son of God. It is now what is for God. There was to be One found in manhood for the complete satisfaction and delight of the heart of God; He was to be called the Son of God; it is what He is in relation to God. The things we have been looking at show what He would be on God's part in relation to men, but now we set what He would be in relation to God -- the Son of God. That suggests the other side of the glad tidings; God's thought is to have sons for Himself. Eternal life is for men, but sonship is for God, for His own delight. There was about to be One in this world in manhood who could be called Son of God; the full delight of God was secured in Him in view of men being brought into sonship for God's delight. The complete thought of God is set forth in the two things -- eternal life and sonship -- and all was to be secured by the coming in of the Child and the Son given.
"When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, come of woman, come under law, that he might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship". We are living in this extraordinary time in the ways of God, a time marked by fulness; there is supreme favour for men and supreme delight for God. It is the time of the fulness of the thoughts of the heart of God in blessing manward and for the delight of His own heart. People talk of being poor, miserable things, but God would say to them, 'Do you understand the character of the moment? Do you understand that there has been a Child born and a Son given? Will you not take account of all that has resulted from that for you and for Me?'
We have the shining of God in the revelation of Himself in grace, and it becomes great to us. We begin to contemplate with adoring and satisfied hearts the fulness of what has come in through the Child born and the Son given. All is secured there for men and for God. Luke's gospel shows how God needs man in order to express His own unbounded favour. The question is often asked, Why did God permit sin to come in? He allowed it to come in because in relation to a sinful
creature He could give expression to the boundless grace of His own heart in a way that He could not express to an unfallen being. It has given God occasion to make Himself known in the supremacy of His grace, that in result He might have men as objects of delight for His heart. It shows the extra-ordinary place man has in the thought of God. The divine Person who came of a woman was before God in purpose as the expression of the thought He had in His mind in relation to men. God's thought for man for His pleasure was that he should be in sonship.
One feels the necessity for being somewhat in Mary's spirit, "Behold the bondmaid of the Lord, be it to me according to thy word". She submitted herself to be the vessel of these wondrous thoughts of favour. God is looking that we should submit ourselves to His thoughts of favour in regard to us, and His thoughts for His own delight. We came to them in a spirit of subjection as subdued by the grace and love which has made them known.
There could hardly be anything more beautiful than the conditions that are set before us in these holy woman. "The hill country" is an appropriate setting for such incidents; there is a moral elevation about these favoured persons and their utterances which is far above the level of the world and the thoughts of men. Both Elizabeth and Mary were extraordinary subjects of divine favour, Mary particularly so. They are representatives of humanity as the subject of supreme divine favour. They both spoke of what God had done to them, of how He had acted with reference to them. We do not see a trace either in Mary or Elizabeth of the degradation of the fallen creature. What shines out in each of them is the exaltation which grace confers on the creature: "He has exalted the lowly". In the persons of these holy women we see humanity most blessedly exalted as the subject of divine favour. There is a moral suggestion in the "hill country"; it is an elevated region; and it is important for us to take account of it with reference to the incoming of Jesus. We see in Mary and Elizabeth a lowliness and an exaltation, neither of which belong naturally to the fallen creature. We see subjection to God and an appreciation of divine favour; we see elevation and dignity through the knowledge of God; and a laying hold of what was in God for the creature; all that is exaltation, not degradation. We have to take account of the degradation of
man as a fallen creature, but as we read the gospel of Luke we are brought to take account of the elevation which divine favour confers upon that fallen creature, so that no trace of the degradation is left. What could be more exalted than the utterances of Elizabeth and Mary!
It is of the utmost importance +at we should see two histories in Scripture. From the beginning of Scripture to the end we find in a great variety of ways the portrayal of the degradation of the fallen creature. But alongside of that history we find another; from the first chapter of Scripture to the last we find the history of the moral elevation to which the favour of God can exalt men. Those two histories cover the whole of Scripture. I dwell on this because it is of vital importance in regard to the coming in of the Son of God into this world. The Lord came in to identify Himself with man as the subject of divine favour. The Lord never identified Himself with the degradation of the fallen creature until He took it up sacrificially upon the cross. It was there and then, and there and then only, that the Lord came into personal contact with sin. He "did no sin", He "knew not sin" and "in him sin is not"; He was "the holy thing", but on the cross He touched sin vicariously and sacrificially; He was made sin; He bore the judgment that attached to the degradation of the fallen creature. But in life He never identified Himself with the degradation of the fallen creature; He identified Himself with all that was of God.
Mary and Elizabeth stand as representatives of that history of man which is connected with man as a subject of divine favour. All through the Scriptures we see that there is something else beside the degradation of the fallen creature; there is the work of divine grace in man. Right through the ages from Abel down we find men marked by the fear of God and faith in God, and by the appreciation and joy of knowing what was in God for them and what He could be to them. Nothing that is on that line belongs to the degradation of the fallen creature. It marks the moral exaltation of a creature who has learned to fear God, and to hope in His mercy, and to be lowly as knowing what attaches to himself by nature -- knowing well that by nature he is a child of wrath even as others. How much there is in Scripture of the history of faith, of man as morally elevated by divine favour! It is of the utmost importance to see that the Lord Jesus in coming into humanity did not
partake in any way in the degradation of the fallen creature, nor did He personally identify Himself with it until He was made sin upon the cross, but He did identify Himself with those who were morally elevated by divine mercy and favour. I believe that is vital to the truth of Christianity, and I do not think the truth\ of the Lord's Person or of divine grace will be rightly apprehended apart from the recognition of it.
The titles and designations which the Lord assumed all indicate His identification with men, or with women, viewed as the subjects of divine mercy and grace. He is spoken of as the seed of the woman, and the seed of Abraham, and the seed of David. All these designations suggest the operations of divine mercy and grace. Abraham is the great father of the faith family, the root of the olive tree of promise; he is a singular example of man as the subject of divine favour. David was the depositary or vessel of the promises relating to the kingdom, just as Abraham was the vessel of the promises of world-wide blessing to the families of the earth. That Christ should be the woman's seed indicates this line of mercy and divine favour in a most extraordinary way. When Jehovah Elohim spoke to the serpent of the woman's seed, and said, "He shall crush thy head", what favour He was putting on the woman! It was as much as to say, 'You have corrupted and degraded her, but I will put honour upon her; I will give her a Seed who shall be capable of destroying your power altogether'. It conferred a distinction upon the woman that was purely of divine mercy and grace. The seed of the woman in principle covers, not only Christ, but all the saints. God said, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman" -- I think that indicates that the woman represented humanity as the subject of divine mercy -- "and between thy seed and her seed". Abel was the first on the line of the woman's seed, and Cain the first of the serpent's seed; there was enmity between them, and there has been enmity between the two seeds ever since. The serpent's seed are men viewed in the degradation of the fallen creature, but the woman's seed are men who become the subjects of divine favour and are thereafter morally exalted. The Lord identified Himself with humanity in the latter aspect. It is said of Him in Hebrews 2, "For he does not indeed take hold of angels by the hand, but he takes hold of the seed of Abraham". He takes hold of humanity viewed
as linked up with the promises of God, the faith family. He identifies Himself with that family: "Behold I and the children which God has given me. Since therefore the children partake of blood and flesh, he also in like manner took part in the same". Mary and Elizabeth were two of "the seed of Abraham", not merely by nature but morally as having faith. They represent the kind of humanity that the Lord Jesus, the holy Son of God, could identify Himself with. It would be blasphemous to say that He identified Himself with fallen humanity, save, of course, in atonement.
The Lord spoke of Himself often as the Son of man, but that title does not suggest the thought of man as a fallen being, but of what Christ is as the Heir of all that attaches to man in the mind of God. If we read Psalm 8 we shall see that it is man supremely exalted. Two words are used for man in Psalm 8 "What is man that thou art mindful of him?" -- the word there means mortal or fallen man -- "Or the son of man that thou visitest him". Christ is the Son of man. God is mindful of the fallen man, He regards him in mercy and grace, but the Son of man is the heir to all the thoughts of greatness, exaltation and supremacy that God has in mind for man. The title Son of man is really Son of Adam; Adam was the name God gave to man as unfallen, the heir to great dignity and exaltation, indeed to universal supremacy according to Psalm 8.
It has often been said that the Lord's genealogy in Luke is traced up to Adam, but if we read it we shall see that it is traced to God, and that makes a great and vital difference. It is traced step by step right back to God, and I believe that every person in that chain was the subject of the sovereign mercy and favour of God, and was found in the line of His grace and favour. The Lord came in to take His place in that generation; He was of that stock.;. not the stock of the fallen man marked as the subject of divine mercy and grace; He was a shoot out of the stock of Jesse. Vagueness as to this is at the bottom of many erroneous ideas as to the Person of the Lord, and if we are not clear as to the Person of the Lord we shall not be clear as to anything.
The Lord's identification in baptism with those who were being baptised by John is confirmatory of what we are saying. When He saw the repentant remnant submitting to the baptism of John, He went also to be baptised of him in Jordan. He identified Himself publicly in baptism with them, because
they were moving Godward in repentance. He did not identify Himself with them as lawless sinners, but as repentant. It is true that He received sinners and ate with them, for He was here to express the infinitude of divine grace to men, but we may be sure that none came to Him in this way but repentant ones; only those who feared God really came to Him. Mary spoke of God's mercy being to generations and generations right through to the end. The Lord said, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Of course He will, because God will maintain it in His grace.
I do not doubt that Adam had faith, for he "called his wife's name Eve, because she is the mother of all living". It was, I believe, the evidence of his faith. Everything began with God; then we have this long line, a chain of many links, beginning with God and ending with Jesus. It was the line of man viewed as the subject of divine mercy and grace. On that line man is greatly exalted in the knowledge of God. That is the line that the Lord could be identified with; He was never identified with fallen man except upon the cross sacrificially and substitutionally. He said prophetically in Psalm 16, "To the saints that are on the earth, and to the excellent, In them is all my delight". That was His generation, and we see a sample of it in Mary and Elizabeth; the Lord came into a generation which was morally suitable for Him.
Seth was a vessel of God's praise, for he was appointed by God instead of Abel -- appointed to take the place of one who had the thought of what was excellent before God, "the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat". It was not the efficacy of Abel's sacrifice which commended it, but its excellence. By faith he had an apprehension of Christ in the excellence that would be brought to light through death, so that his sacrifice is not called a burnt-offering, or a sin-offering, but an oblation, referring to the pleasure of God in His gifts. Then Enos was a vessel of God's praise in the acknowledgment of what man is as having come under sin and death -- his name means weak or mortal -- and it was in the sense of this that "people began to call on the name of Jehovah", Genesis 4:26. We have only to mention Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Boaz, David (as a few well-known names selected from the genealogy) to see that it represents a line marked by divine mercy and grace. Indeed it would be true to say that they all derived from Christ. He was David's Root as well as his Offspring; in a
spiritual sense David derived everything from his greater Son. Abraham derived all from the One who could say, "Before Abraham was, I am". It was the Spirit of Christ in Old Testament saints that gave them character and faith. Whatever was, brought into humanity that was of God was by His sovereign favour, and Jesus came in as connected by birth of Mary with the unbroken continuity of the line of divine favour to men. He came in as identified with "Mercy (as he spoke to our fathers) to Abraham and to his seed for ever". His genealogy was morally suitable to Him, as having features which were of God right through.
In Elizabeth we see a woman filled with the Holy Spirit, and her child filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb; there could not be a greater expression of the sovereign favour of God than that. John had not yet come into responsibility, but he had come into sovereignty, and in sovereign favour he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, recognises the unborn child as "My Lord". As to Mary hers was the blessedness of a believer; the things spoken to her would be fulfilled; all that was conferred upon her was purely in divine favour. In a spiritual sense she derived all from God and from her blessed and holy Son. How lovely are her words! "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour". The question of what was coming in was before her; her whole inward being was absorbed with the blessedness of divine favour, and it is God's thought for every one of us that we should be absorbed with it. Mary was truly a lowly one exalted; she was naturally a child of wrath, even as the rest, but as a subject of divine favour she does not make the slightest reference to her state as fallen. She speaks indeed of her low estate, but her low estate not as a lawless sinner, but as a bondmaid of God. She was wholly committed to His service and surrendered to His pleasure. Hers was a low estate, but what exaltation was conferred upon her! Henceforth all generations were to call her blessed, but her exaltation was altogether of divine favour, no part of it could be attributed to her. "For the Mighty One has done to me great things, and holy is his name". She speaks of His mercy, and of how He has helped Israel. All is on the line of what man is as the subject of divine favour, and it produces in Mary a spirit of adoration. She herself was conscious of divine favour, and she
thought of generations who should fear the Mighty One, and appreciate the favour manifested in Jesus.
In reading this gospel I believe God would have His grace to liberate us completely from every consideration connected with our natural state as sinful so that we might be fully and adoringly occupied with the supreme blessedness of His favour that has come to us in Jesus. God scatters haughty ones and puts down rulers; He sends away the rich empty, but He exalts the lowly and fills the hungry with good things.
We have been speaking of Elizabeth and Mary as representatives of humanity as the subjects of divine favour. The key-note of the portion that is before us now would seem to be the word "mercy". Mary said, "His mercy is to generations and generations of them that fear him"; she looked forward to many generations as being subjects of mercy: it would be those generations who would call her blessed. And again she says, "He has helped Israel his servant, in order to remember mercy (as he spoke to our fathers), to Abraham and to his seed for ever". The question was asked J.N.D. in the closing days of his life: What is the difference between mercy and grace? His answer was, Mercy is great in the greatness of the need, grace in the thought of the one who exercises it. That sentence is well worth weighing. Take an illustration. The king might be pleased to bestow upon me some mark of his favour; that would be purely a question of what was in his own heart. Grace is great in the thought of the one who exercises it. But suppose I were a convicted criminal in Exeter jail, mercy would be requisite, and the king could only show me his favour in the way of mercy; so mercy is great in the greatness of the need.
We have been speaking very much of grace -- of divine favour -- which is purely a question of what is in the heart of God. But then we have also to take account of the sinful condition of men, and that makes mercy requisite. Israel's fathers were poor idolaters, so that when God called Abraham out it was indeed mercy. When God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He had the history of the people before Him; He knew all that they would be, right down to the crucifixion of Christ. Israel was His servant as a matter of pure mercy, and all that He spoke to the fathers was mercy. Mercy supposes conditions that are contrary to God, but in presence of them He shows mercy. When Israel worshipped the golden calf God said, "I will have mercy upon whom I
will have mercy". Nothing can invalidate the mercy of God with us; He reviewed all our history before He began with us; He knew all we should be as sinners, and as failing believers; He began with us in mercy, and it will be mercy from first to last.
Mercy is spoken of here in connection with the coming in of Jesus; God remembered mercy. At the end of Exodus 2 we are told that God remembered His covenant. The people were poor slaves and idolaters; Ezekiel tells us that they worshipped idols when God took them up in Egypt, but He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and He acknowledged them as subjects of mercy. That is how God has acknowledged us. The state of Israel in Luke I was a very sad one, but Mary took account of them as subjects of mercy. John came in altogether on the line of mercy; Jehovah "magnified his mercy" with Elizabeth, and when her neighbours and kinsfolk heard it they appreciated it and rejoiced with her. The subject of conversation in all the hill country was the acting of God in mercy. Thank God there are still people living in "the hill country" who are not engrossed with business, or pleasure, or politics, or religion, but who converse together on the ways of God in mercy! God made His covenant in mercy, and He remembers it, and nothing can invalidate it. He brought in Jesus purely on the line of mercy. God is said to be rich in mercy; He has such an abundance of it that He has a large quantity to dispense.
We see here that there were persons who appreciated mercy, but they had to learn to discard natural thoughts. It was very natural to call the child after his father, but John had been named from heaven. He was the expression of the favour of heaven, and Zacharias and Elizabeth were in the confidence of heaven. They were free from natural thoughts, and they both appreciated that his name was John. The Lord Jesus Christ is the great expression of God's mercy, and Elizabeth was occupied with Mary's Child rather than her own, and Zacharias was full of thoughts of Christ rather than of John. He spoke of God fulfilling "mercy with our fathers" and remembering "his holy covenant". He speaks of "the bowels of mercy of our God". That is the source from which all blessing comes; Jesus comes to be the full expression of it.
Zacharias dwells entirely on what God has done. There are no "ifs" of any kind in what he says; he does not even
bring in the thought of faith on the part of the people of God. Everything is seen in its absoluteness as wrought by God in mercy; he was full of what was coming in Jesus. He does not speak, like Simeon, of the Child being set for the fall of many in Israel and a sign spoken against. He speaks of what was coming in on God's part in all its greatness as mercy to His people. He had visited and wrought redemption for His people and raised up a horn of deliverance. "Bowels of mercy" show the tender yearnings of God over man, over Israel. What God is in His nature is the source and spring both of mercy and grace. Scripture does not say that God is grace or that God is mercy, but that God is love; that is what He is in His nature, and mercy and grace both flow from that. God has visited His people in the way of redemption, and raised up a mighty horn of deliverance that His people may be liberated from everything adverse to them, so that they may serve Him in piety and righteousness before Him all the days of their life. God has made full provision for it.
This utterance of Zacharias shows that God is moving in the presence of conditions of need that call for mercy. The thought of influences adverse to God and adverse to His people is clearly referred to, for He speaks of "deliverance from our enemies and out of the hand of all who hate us". There are hostile conditions in view but the Horn of deliverance is equal to them all. It is a happy thought that if we are hindered by any hostile power there is not the slightest reason for it on God's part, for He has raised up a Horn of deliverance that is equal to anything. We all have enemies. A great deal rises up in ourselves and many influences act upon us through others, but God's Horn of deliverance is more than equal to liberate us from all. There is no need now for us to be hindered by any influence adverse to God. Peter speaks about fleshly lusts that war against the soul; if I have a fleshly lust it is an opportunity for me to prove the power of God's Horn of deliverance. Then there are reasonings. Did you never have a battle with your own reasonings? God's Horn of deliverance would set us free from all "reasonings and every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God".
How is it that people do not get deliverance? I believe we do not get deliverance because we have not definitely committed ourselves to the service of God. Every person who definitely commits himself to the service of God will find there is
deliverance in that mighty Horn that God has raised up. We have to come to it that it is the happiest possible thing to serve God. If I want happiness I can only find it on the line of serving God. To serve myself or my lusts and pleasures is bondage; we have all proved it to be so. If I am just going on with a comfortable life in the world, my soul is robbed of all I might be enjoying in the service of God. Liberty is found in serving God; it is the happiest thing possible to connect all you do with what pleases God. No one can get deliverance until he can say of God, like Paul, "whose I am and whom I serve". It is when we take that ground that we prove the power of God's Horn of deliverance. God does not grant deliverance as a thing; what He has provided is deliverance in a Person; He has raised up a Horn of deliverance -- Jesus. There is a power of deliverance in Jesus to set us free from everything that is adverse to God and to us. The deliverance of the people from Egypt was a picture of it. God came in in mercy to deliver Israel from the bondage of Egypt so that they might serve Him. "Let my son go, that he may serve me"; that is what He wanted. It was seen in picture in Israel, but now we have come to the substance of it in Jesus. There is wonderful power in Jesus. I suppose none of us really apprehends the immense divine power that is available for us in Him. Satan always works to get us to serve some other than God; he is always saying, Serve yourselves, or Serve the world, or, Serve your circumstances. But happiness lies in serving God, and the great evidence of mercy is that God has brought in a power adequate to set us perfectly free so that we may not ever do anything from morning to night every day of our lives but serve God, and find our happiness in doing so. Whether we are in the daily occupations of life, in the household, or business, or in the assembly, we have nothing to do in any sphere but to serve God. That is supreme happiness, and deliverance is needed for it, and the power of it lies in Jesus.
What is requisite on our side is self-judgment, and that is why John goes before the face of the Lord as the prophet of the Highest; the effect of John's ministry is to bring about self-judgment and repentance. If I am a self-judged person there is nothing to obstruct the movements of the Highest in supreme grace; He can take His own way with me. If I am self-sufficient or haughty I cannot expect anything from God
in the way of blessing, but if I am self-judged there is nothing to hinder God from moving in His way of grace. John was to be called the prophet of the Highest to go before the face of Jehovah to make ready His ways. What ways they were! As we move through the gospel let us never forget that we are observing the ways of the Highest. Every self-judged soul gets the benefit of them. He comes to remit sins, and to give knowledge of deliverance by doing so.
The light of heaven -- the dayspring from on high -- breaks forth in this wonderful way. The light of heaven has broken in to give remission of sins on account of the bowels of mercy of our God. There is such an intensity of mercy in our God -- such yearnings on His part to be known by His sinful creatures -- that He comes out to remit our sins. If God will remit sins He will do anything that we need. If God remits His people's sins, will He leave them helpless in the hands of the enemy? Never, The fact that He has remitted our sins is the pledge that He will deliver us from every influence and power that is hostile, so that we may be set at liberty to serve Him continually. There may be painful experiences externally, but they are not superior to the joy that is within. Two dear brethren had painful experiences at Philippi, but they were able to sing through them. They were in the joy of deliverance inside before they had outward deliverance. They were praying and singing praises to God; they were as completely free inside as any lark that ever soared into azure with its breast full of song.
The dayspring from on high is the light shining out of heaven, the light of full remission and full deliverance, and it has come out in Jesus. There is a Horn of deliverance, a Person powerful enough to set us free from every thought and feeling and influence that is adverse to God or to us. Jesus is able to do it. We might have the doctrine of deliverance at our fingers' end and not be in the good of it, but if we come to Jesus we find the Deliverer. God is shining on men in Jesus to take us out of darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace, a way which naturally we do not know
There could be no greater evidence of the low estate of God's people than what we see here. The heir to David's throne was a carpenter in an obscure city of Galilee, and he, along with all Israel, was under the orders of the Roman emperor. But everything, from the emperor down to the carpenter, had to move in such a way as to carry out the will and purpose of God, and His prophetic word. The whole habitable world was set in motion to bring Mary to Bethlehem that her Son might be born there. God was in supreme control; He controlled the emperor; He used him to control the movements of Joseph and Mary, and He brought about just what He intended, and it is ever thus. He "moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform", and He makes everything contribute to the furtherance of His designs of grace. He makes everything subordinate itself to His will; it is good to see the greatness of God. Caesar Augustus had to take his place in the carrying out of what was in the will of God. Probably the census did not actually take place at this time, but some years later under Cyrenius' government, which shows that God used the decree to take Joseph and Mary to the royal city. It was not the census that was important, but the birth of Jesus.
"She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger, because there was no room for them at the inn". Those were not merely casual circumstances, because they were announced from heaven as being "the sign". The angel said, "And this is the sign to you: ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger". It is the sign. We should notice the contrast between Matthew and Luke. In Isaiah 7 the sign given by God is, "Behold the virgin shall conceive and shall bring forth a son, and call his name Immanuel". That scripture is quoted in Matthew I. That is the sign of God coming into be with His people as Emmanuel, "God with us". There are no swaddling clothes mentioned in Matthew; all is great there; He is born King; His star sheds its ray afar over the Gentile world; the magi come to do homage and open their treasures to offer Him gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh. He is seen in divine and regal glory. But in Luke the sign is connected with the lowliness of His nativity; no star, no homage, no offerings, but "a babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes and lying in a manger". It was the expression of weakness and complete dependence. He came in at the lowest point, personally and circumstantially.
A babe is humanity in the form of great weakness and dependence; no one is more absolutely dependent than a new-born babe; everything has to be done for it. Jesus came in as a dependent Infant, receiving all from God through the loving care of His mother. It is perfection in an infant to be the subject of maternal love and care, and in that place His trust was in God; Psalm 22:9, 10. The shepherds saw One in the place of manifest dependence, and that was to be characteristic of Him all through. It might be said that every infant is dependent on a mother's care. But what gives infinite meaning and value to the scene before us is that a Saviour, Christ the Lord, the Son of the Highest, the Son of God, was found in a condition where His mother had to wrap Him in swaddling clothes and lay Him in a manger. That He should be there exalts the circumstances to the highest point of moral glory. The swaddling clothes spoke volumes to heaven; they spoke of the place of complete dependence in which the Son of God was found as having come into humanity. God's salvation has come to us in One who came into humanity to be there as the entirely dependent One. He was cast upon God, He trusted in God even from the womb, as the Psalm tells us.
The wonder and the glory of it is that such a Person should be found in such a place, coming in at the lowest point of human weakness to be the dependent One from the moment of His birth. God found in Him One who could wholly trust Him, even as a Babe. Psalm 22 puts it clearly, "I was cast upon thee from the womb", and again, "Thou didst make me trust upon my mother's breasts". He received all as One dependent upon God, however God's care might be expressed, through His mother or through others; however it might come, it was to Him the care of His God. From the first moment of His entrance into this world He was the perfectly dependent One, who was cared for by God, and God's salvation has come to us in Him.
It was said to the shepherds, "Ye shall find a babe..".. Heaven could speak of it with delight. There was nothing for this world in a Babe who required to have everything done for Him; but there was everything for heaven. The shepherds
were deeply interested; they said, "Let us see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us". A babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger: that was the sign. God has wrapped up in that sign what is essential to the whole truth of His grace. The shepherds came and saw, and they spoke of it far and wide. People that heard it wondered, and those who entered into it glorified and praised God.
But there is no room in man's world for One who is wholly cast upon God. It is not dependent ones who get the best room in the inn; it is independent people, men with material resources who get the best rooms. An inn is a place where men are measured; the best rooms are given to the rich, the common rooms to the poor, but for Jesus there was no room in the inn. There is no room in man's world for perfect dependence upon God. Men say, 'We have our societies, our unions, our clubs. Come and join us and we will protect you and make things comfortable for you. You will have a nice time in the inn'. But if a man says quietly, 'I raise no question as to what you are doing, but for my part I prefer to depend on God', many a confessor of Christ in Christian England has found that it meant the loss of his daily bread. There is no room for dependence on God in man's world; every form of independence is there. God provided the manger for Jesus; it speaks of a provision that lies outside man's arrangements for himself or his fellows. The manger is outside what man provides for man, but God always provides for those who are content to accept whatever provision He may be pleased to make. God always has had, and always will have, a provision for those who trust in Him, and those who are in dependence on Him will prove it. It may not be luxurious, but it will always suffice for faith. Truly dependent ones accept what is provided, and find the care of God very sweet even in outward reproach.
The manger implied an outside place -- a place of reproach; but it was God's provision for that holy Child, not a dignified place in this world, but honoured as being God's own provision for One who wholly trusted in Him. There will always be that which answers to the manger; it is for us to see that we are content with it; it is a sign of wondrous portent. People say, 'Why do you not build a fine chapel, and have it on the main street, and put yourselves into prominence?' We must
remember the sign of the manger which speaks of divine provision in the place of reproach. Think what it was for Joseph and Mary to come to David's city and to find no room in the inn! The rightful heir to David's throne comes to David's city and there is no room in the inn! If things had been right in Bethlehem the best rooms in the inn would have been vacated for them. Yet they accepted the manger, and it became the sign of where God's salvation would be found. You will not find God's salvation in the best rooms of the inn, but in the manger. The grace that was coming in was not to be great and honoured in the world; it was to have the lowest place in the estimation of men. But what we want is the mind of heaven. Joseph and Mary were in the secret. They knew the greatness and the glory of the Child who was just about to be born when they went into that city, but they accepted the manger as God's provision.
All the interest of heaven centred in that manger and in the Child lying in it wrapped in swaddling clothes; outwardly there was the expression of greatest weakness and dependence, but everything that was great and glorious was there. How favoured were the shepherds to get communications from heaven! They learned where all true glory was found; they learned divine favour in that which to men was of no account. The inn represented man's provision for himself and his fellows, and there was no room in it for Jesus, but there were shepherds abiding without who were sympathetic with heaven.
The wise men in Matthew recognised under the instruction of heaven that He was the King. They said, "Where is the King of the Jews, that has been born? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to do him homage". They saw the royal glory that attached to the Child, and they did Him homage; they gave Him choice and costly gifts. But in Luke it is the grace of God coming near to men, and what is brought out is the place of dependence into which He came, the place of having no resource save what God provided. Jesus came to be in the place of dependence and to be of no account in the estimation of the world -- to lie in a manger. The shepherds were sympathetic with the thoughts of heaven, and all those thoughts centred in that Babe in the manger. In Matthew His official glory is prominent, but in Luke it is His moral glory. In Luke's gospel we see the Lord many times in prayer. It is the setting forth of One who was
in absolute dependence, and the swaddling clothes were the sign of it. He received all as the expression of the care of His God. The shepherds were greatly affected by what they heard and saw; they returned glorifying and praising God. Shepherds represent those who care for what has value before God at some personal cost to themselves. God took up shepherds like Moses and David because in caring for their flocks they were in keeping with His own thoughts. If there was no room for the Lord in the inn, there was room for Him in the hearts of the shepherds; heaven took them into confidence. As having been taken into the confidence of heaven we see the most wonderful glory in that which in the eyes of man was of no account whatever. The shepherds said, "Let us see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us", and they came and saw, and became witnesses of it to others, and returned glorifying and praising God. All who heard it wondered, but Mary did more than wonder; she "kept all these things in her mind, pondering them in her heart".
There is also another remarkable feature in this scene which must not be overlooked. There was not only an angel of the Lord by the shepherds, but "the glory of the Lord shone around them"; Jehovah, God Himself, was there as well as the angel. He had come down in the glory of grace near to the shepherds. It was not merely that He sent a message from heaven, to announce what had come in in the Babe that was born, but God in His glory was there; the glory of Jehovah shone round about them. It was the Shekinah glory, but seen in a new character; God coming out of the clouds and thick darkness to shine in the effulgence of His own glory in perfect grace to men. Instead of fear being called for, the hearts of men were to be illuminated and filled with "great joy". The angel brought a wonderful message from heaven; the joy of heaven was overflowing and pouring itself out into the hearts of men on the earth; and Jehovah Himself was there, the immediate presence of the glory of God. The glory of grace stamps its character on the whole of this gospel, the glory of God revealed in grace to men. God Himself is near to men in the effulgence of His glory, and yet not in a way to strike fear, but to fill the hearts of men with supreme joy. It is true that the shepherds "feared with great fear", but this was because they did not understand the nature of the glory. The
angel told them not to fear, because the glory was shining in perfect grace; it was shining to fill men's hearts with great joy. It is a beautiful scene; one prays for ability to take it in. Everything was secured in that Babe. Though not yet manifested, it was well known to God and heaven, and God would have it well known to men, "glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people". If we think of the condition in which "all the people" were, it enhances the glory of grace; most of them were still in captivity in or beyond Babylon: probably by this time most of them had dropped down to the level of their surroundings, and yet "all the people" were to be the recipients of the glad tidings of great joy. It is more limited here than what comes out in the utterance of Simeon; it is limited to "all the people" -- that is, to Israel.
It has been said that grace is commensurate with glory; that gives grace a wonderful character. If we think of all the glory that belongs to God, grace is commensurate with it; it can only be measured by the glory of God. The glory of Jehovah had been known in a certain way in the Old Testament, but now it has come out in the fulness of grace. John says, "we have contemplated his glory", but the character of that glory was that he was "full of grace and truth". The glory was a consuming fire in the Old Testament, but now it is the glory of grace and truth -- a transforming power; those who look at it become like it. Great joy has been brought in from God Andy from heaven; the glory of God as known in grace becomes a spring of great joy. If any one is not perfectly happy now, it is because of unbelief; there is no excuse for unhappiness, for God has announced "glad tidings of great joy".
The angels' message was in keeping with what Mary and Zacharias said. "He has helped Israel his servant, in order to remember mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever", chapter 1: 54. "To fulfil mercy with our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham our father", chapter 1: 72. These statements are limited to Israel. That gives a peculiar touch of mercy, because the most wicked people on the face of the earth was Israel. Think of their history! Unbelief, disobedience, departure, idolatry, refusal of the prophetic word! No Gentile nation lay under such terrible guilt as Israel; no Gentile nation had the opportunity of being so bad as Israel. For
Israel had been the subject of extraordinary favour on the part of God; they had His holy oracles, the law, the promises, the covenants, the sanctuary and its services; they had every privilege that God could give to men. Yet with all this light, which the Gentiles never had, they behaved so badly that God's name was blasphemed amongst the nations on account of them. No people were in such a state of moral departure from God, considering the light they had, as Israel. But the covenant was in mercy, and God remembered it.
At the end of the gospel we read that repentance and remission of sins were to be preached "to all the nations beginning at Jerusalem". They were to begin with the very people who had betrayed and murdered Christ; the worst people on the face of the earth. Israel will be in a certain sense an even more remarkable monument of mercy than the Gentiles. No other nation actually and literally rejected Christ; the Gentiles never had Him presented to them. No other people had the opportunity to betray and murder the just One. We are no better than they, but in the actual history of things features of wickedness came out in the Jews that never had an opportunity to come out in other people, so there is a peculiar quality of mercy in God's dealings with them. God came out to make the glory of His grace shine for such people as that, and not a word is said here about repentance. I do not plead for the omission of repentance, far from it, but what I see magnified here is the measureless favour of the blessed God, "glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people", not even if they repent, but unconditional favour. If we could get a sense of how favourable God is to His poor creature into a man's heart, it would break him to pieces. The goodness of God would lead him to repent. It was not the people's sins that were in view in Luke 2, but their Saviour. If there was a Saviour it implied a lost condition, forfeited blessing in the enemy's power. But a Saviour born to such a people carried with it all that they needed. Everything was met in a divine way.
God has brought in the true David, a man after His own heart, to fulfil all His will, born in David's city. It was a little city of Judah; all here is on the line of what is little in the eyes of men. The prophet had said of Bethlehem that it was "little among the thousands of Judah". Christ came in as David did; He was of no account. When Jesse called
his sons together that Samuel might look at them, he did not even include David; he was too insignificant to be taken any notice of at all, and the true David came in on that line. But He was God's anointed One, invested with divine authority as the Lord, but exercising His authority in grace as a Saviour for ail the people.
We can understand a multitude of the heavenly host being found there in praise Godward. They did not speak of man's side of what was coming in; it was God's side. "Glory to God in the highest" is God's side; "and on earth peace", is not what people think -- peace amongst men -- though that may result from it, but that not a contrary element is left under the eye of God. And then God's "good pleasure in men". The angel tells what men get: "unto you is born a Saviour who is Christ the Lord"; He was a true evangelist. But the multitude of the heavenly host were occupied with what would be secured for God, and they were praising God on this account. It is blessed to think of the heavenly host as understanding the character of the glory of God. The angels are spoken of in Luke 15 as the friends and neighbours of divine Persons. God has taken the angels into confidence, and let them understand what His thoughts are in relation to men, and what His glory is in relation to men. They are just as happy as if all was for them.
"Glory to God in the highest" declares that God would be seen in the full height of His heavenly grace. His glory was to have this amazing character -- a glory of supreme grace to men. We read later of the glory of His grace (Ephesians 1) and of the glad tidings of the glory of the blessed God (1 Timothy 1). He will display the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus, in the coming ages; His glory will shine out in that way in the very highest degree. We need to consider the glory of God in grace; the gospel of Luke is the development of it. If we want to see it in its climax, we see a man who an hour ago was a condemned and dying criminal in paradise with Jesus. That is the glory of God. He could take such a man and put him in the highest and brightest spot in paradise with Jesus -- it is the glory of God to do that. The glory of God is now the glory of grace. It is not a question of the creature's need, but that God wills to be known in the highest glory of His grace, and He has brought it out through Jesus in a way of marvellous wisdom
"On earth peace". When Jesus was here there was a spot on this earth in such harmony with God that there was nothing to disturb the repose of God. There were no contrary elements there, nothing of a character that conflicted with the mind of God -- never a movement of will to bring in a jarring note. The contrast between this and chapter 19: 35 has often been pointed out: Jerusalem had not known the things that were for her peace, and henceforth peace was to be "in heaven", not "on earth". The Lord was about to be rejected; there was no longer to be peace on earth, but peace in heaven because Jesus is there.
"Good pleasure in men". God's delight in men was to be fully secured. I have no doubt this is a reference to Proverbs 8. The effect of the coming of Jesus would be that the devil's works would be undone and God's good pleasure in men eternally secured. This shows men to be the peculiar objects of God's favour. Men that have been sinful creatures, that have had every feature that was contrary to divine pleasure, are to be for God's delight eternally. When we think of that we begin to look at men in a new light. What a privilege to know some of those "men" in whom God has such pleasure! What a privilege to be numbered with them, in such infinite favour, as appreciating Christ! In Psalm 16 Christ said prophetically of the saints, "In them is all my delight". His presence here on earth, even as a Babe in a manger, is the security that the divine good pleasure in men would be brought to pass.
The Spirit of God would delight to show us that all that God had in view in various institutions of the Old Testament was secured fully in Jesus. We have particularly before us at this time circumcision and the presentation of the first-born. These are two prominent and blessed thoughts in the Old Testament. What joy it must have been to God to bring out in types all that which would be fully secured for His pleasure in Jesus and through Jesus in others! There was a reserved portion for God in those types even at a time when no one else entered into their meaning.
Circumcision was "a sign of the covenant" (Genesis 17), and the presentation of the hallowed firstborn intimated God's purpose to have sons for the pleasure of His love. God known as in covenant relations with men -- and men on their part answering to those relations -- covers a great part of what is brought before us in the Old Testament. Then there is the
additional thought of men being in the place of sonship. In the circumcision of Jesus, and His presentation as firstborn to Jehovah, these two precious thoughts of divine love are viewed as brought to fruition. They were both to be realised in full measure in Him, and by the grace of God to be realised in many others through Him.
"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee... . And as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant, thou and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee -- that every male among you be circumcised... . And at eight days old shall every male in your generations be circumcised among you", Genesis 17:7 - 14. God looked to have a people to whom He would be God, and who would wholly trust in Him, so as to prove what He would delight to be to men upon this earth. Circumcision was a sign, as the New Testament tells us, of "the putting off of the body of the flesh" (Colossians 2:11); it spoke of the bringing to an end of all confidence in the flesh, and a trust in God alone. God committed Himself to Abraham by covenant, and told him he should be a father of a multitude of nations, and that He would give him the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, but on the side of Abraham and his seed circumcision had to have its place. On their side there was to be renunciation of all confidence in flesh, and a trusting wholly in God.
True circumcision is not outward in the flesh, but is an inward and secret thing. Paul says it is "of the heart, in spirit"; it is really known only to God; "whose praise is not of men but of God", Romans 2:29. God takes account of those whose resource is in Himself, those to whom He is really God; it gives Him great pleasure to be God to us.
There was no sinful flesh in Jesus, but all that was in view in circumcision as the sign of the covenant was realised and patterned in Him. In human condition, from infancy to manhood and all through His course, He knew what it was to have God as His God -- to have no other confidence. He would only receive from God; He would only trust in God; He was wholly apart from fleshly or creature confidence. He was in the true and full consciousness of God being committed to Him to bring to pass what was in His own heart. In being
circumcised He was recognised as in the place of covenant relationship with God, to know and enjoy all that God was in thoughts of blessing manward, and to respond to it as delighting in it, and having no other confidence. Humanity was found in Jesus wholly apart from self-sufficiency and self-confidence, finding all its strength and resource in God. God was with Man, and Man with God, in the blessedness of covenant relations fully secured for the first time. Such relations had been secured in measure in saints favoured of God, but now there was One with whom they were secured in absolute perfection.
Such relations can only be brought about for us through His death, and by our "circumcision not done by hand". No doubt His circumcision was a figure of His death, in which the body of the flesh is put off so that in result the self-confidence that naturally marks man is set aside and His saints are brought to trust wholly in God. There was nothing to set aside in Him, but He had come in the likeness of sinful flesh, and that flesh was going to be cut off in His death, which Paul refers to as "the circumcision of the Christ". No doubt His circumcision at eight days old was a foreshadowing of what would be accomplished in His death. His Name being called Jesus in connection with circumcision would show that His saving character depends on what was accomplished in His death.
The result of God being really God to man is that man is wholly for God. The eighth day is connected in Scripture with what is for God. As to the firstborn of beasts it is said, "On the eighth day thou shalt give it me", Exodus 22:30. On the eighth day the male child was to be circumcised. The eighth day is thus God's day when He gets His portion. It will have its full issue in what Peter calls "the day of God", the "day of eternity". In Jesus everything was secured for God in Man; a perfection was there which could go through death into resurrection, and be for God's pleasure eternally. All that is for God's pleasure, whether in time conditions or in eternal conditions, has been patterned in Jesus. He went into death to set aside the man after the flesh who could never be for God's pleasure, but in Him all that was suited to God in Man was fully set forth. If we accept circumcision -- the cutting off of the flesh in the death of Christ -- and by the Spirit of God bring that death as a sharp knife upon the flesh in ourselves, we shall prove what God delights to be for men, and
in the strength of it we shall be for Him. All was patterned in Jesus. God gave His covenant to Abraham and circumcision as the sign of it, and when He took Israel out of Egypt He introduced another and an even more precious thought, to have the firstborn son for Himself. These are two of the greatest thoughts in Scripture. He said, "Israel is my son, my firstborn", and He claimed every firstborn for Himself. In Luke 2 we see the true Firstborn presented as "holy to Jehovah"; there had never been a truly holy firstborn Son before. "That holy thing that shall be born shall be, called Son of God". What had been typified in the firstborn was realised now in Jesus.
We see in Scripture generally that nature's firstborn has to be superseded. Nature's firstborn is typified by the firstborn of Egypt, and judgment has to come on that. But then, God has His own thought of firstborn, and He realised it in Jesus. God has the assembly of firstborn ones now all having firstborn character. Such a thing could not be known in a natural family. In God's family all are firstborn ones, because all partake of the dignity and excellence of Christ.
When they came to present Him to Jehovah, there was need on their part for purifying; not for the Child, but for the parents. "And when the days were fulfilled for their purifying according to the law of Moses, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord", verse 22. In Leviticus 12, which gives us this ordinance, there is no thought suggested of the child requiring to be purified. The burnt-offering and sin-offering were for the mother, not for the child. The priest "shall make atonement for her", that is, the mother. The Spirit of God had the holy Child in view; when God laid down the ordinance as to the firstborn and as to purification, He was thinking of Jesus. The burnt-offering and sin-offering intimate what was coming in for the purification of men, that is, the purification of Israel represented in Mary.
I have thought sometimes that no offerings in the Old Testament ever could have had quite the place in God's estimation that these two turtle doves and two young pigeons had. Solomon and Hezekiah and Josiah offered thousands of bullocks and sheep, but who can tell what those two little birds spoke to God! It pleased God that in connection with Jesus there should be the humblest and smallest possible type -- two little birds -- outwardly insignificant, but what volumes did they
speak to God! They brought before God what He would secure through the coming in of that Babe -- an entirely new ground of acceptance for man and the complete removal of the pollution of sin! The turtle doves or young pigeons seem to suggest the peculiar way in which the grace of God was coming in. Many thousands of bullocks were sacrificed at the dedication of the temple; it was an immense thing publicly. But when God brought in His saving grace, He brought it in in a form that was insignificant in the eyes of men; nothing could be a greater proof of, this than a Babe lying in a manger. It brings out the character of the dispensation. God is not bringing out what is publicly great, He is bringing His salvation near to men in a shape which outwardly appears to be small and feeble. Two turtle doves or pigeons were the provision for extreme poverty. Things were in such disorder in Israel that the heir to David's throne was unable to bring more than two little birds; it was under such circumstances that God brought His supreme grace into the world. God's greatest things have come in a way that is outwardly weak and small; there is nothing to impress the natural man at all. There is everything for faith, and for God, but nothing to minister to the mind of the natural man.
We find here a man whose name, Simeon, means "one who hears"; his ears were opened to what the Spirit of God had to say. There were many clever men in Jerusalem at that time, doctors of the law and so forth, but Simeon's ear was open to what the Spirit of God was saying. Have we ever heard what the Spirit is saying? The Spirit told Simeon about Jesus. He was awaiting the consolation of Israel. What faith he had! Israel was in a deplorable condition, most of them still in captivity, but here was a man looking at Israel in the light of the covenant and promises, and cherishing in his heart their coming consolation. The Spirit took him into confidence, and told him things that were not known publicly at all.
It is remarkable how much is said of him in relation to the Spirit. "And the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it was divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death before he should see the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple", verses 25 - 27. He was in the confidence of the Spirit, and the Spirit told him things that were not known publicly. Peter said, "knowing
that the putting off of my tabernacle is speedily to take place". He knew he would have to put off his tabernacle; and Paul knew that the time of his departure was at hand; they both knew that the Lord was not going to come in their lifetime. As a young believer I ventured to say to J. B. Stoney, 'Do you believe that the Lord will come in your life-time?' He looked very grave and said, 'I think not, I think He would have told me'. He was near the Lord, and he felt assured that the Lord would have told him. Simeon was told, the Spirit communicated to him, that he should not see death before he should see the Lord's Christ. I believe that, before the rapture, there will be some in this world -- perhaps not many -- who will be so in communion with the Holy Spirit that they will have the consciousness that they are not going to die. "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death". He had the faith of translation before he was translated; that is very striking.
The Spirit was on confidential terms with Simeon; it is possible and within reach of any of us if we have affection and spiritual ability for it. It is of great importance, not only to read the Scriptures which bring out the truth of the Lord's coming, but to be in such close communion with the Holy Spirit that we know exactly how things are moving. People get occupied with events, but they will never learn anything that way. The first move will take place at the right hand of God so far as the church is concerned. Who can tell us about that? No one but the Spirit; the Spirit came from there and He is in the secret of what is known there. The Spirit delights to have some down here whom He can take into confidence, and tell what is going on at the right hand of God. That is something to be greatly desired.
Simeon was just where he ought to be; he was doing the right thing at the right time. Whatever is done in the Spirit will always be done in a way that is suitable to the moment. We could not think of a man controlled by the Spirit doing what was not appropriate. So Simeon came into the temple just at the right moment and Anna likewise. The Spirit brought them to the spot just at the right time; He is never before or behind His time; every movement of the Spirit is timed with beautiful accuracy.
Simeon is a remarkable figure or pattern of what is possible for saints in view of the Lord's coming again. He was a prepared
servant, prepared to receive Him, and to take Him up in his arms. Jesus did not at that time have the throne of His father David, but He had the affectionate embrace of one who knew how to appreciate Him as the salvation of God. Think of the intimacy and affection of it! Simeon took Him in his arms, knowing well who He was, His greatness, His majesty, for He was God's salvation.
This is a sanctuary scene; therefore there is great expansion. Simeon had a much wider outlook than anybody seen before in this gospel. He had a wider outlook than Zacharias, or Elizabeth, or Mary, or even than the angel. His utterances go far beyond Israel. The angel said, "I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people"; that does not go beyond Israel. "The people" in Scripture is always Israel. But Simeon says, "for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples"; he had the world in view. So he continues: "a light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel". We see in this the universality of grace. God would have all peoples to be spectators of what He has brought in; it was not to be hidden from any.
The Gentiles being mentioned first is a touch of grace which is in accord with Luke's gospel. The light shone to reveal the Gentiles as subjects of divine favour; that was something new in tire ways of God. Prophetic light had shone chiefly to show that Israel was the subject of divine favour, but the coming in of Jesus was "a light for revelation of the Gentiles"; it had in view that the nations should be in divine favour. Simeon had probably in mind such a scripture as Isaiah 49:6, where God said prophetically of Christ, "I have even given thee for a light of the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth". God would not ignore the nations; Israel was not enough for Him, though there was the glory of His people Israel. He would not diminish what belonged to Israel, for whatever glory Israel had as the subject of promises and prophecy was ail to be secured in that holy Child. God's salvation, His light and His glory, were there in such a form that they could be affectionately and tenderly embraced. The Spirit of God would lead us to embrace all this great and precious grace as found in Jesus.
There is something here sweeter, and more intimate and blessed, than what we have in Matthew. There, when the
magi saw Him, they fell down and did Him homage; it was very suitable that they should, because in Matthew He is seen in His official and regal glory. We see in Simeon a sweeter and more intimate character of apprehension; he received Him into his arms. The Spirit would enable us to embrace Him. Simeon was not led by a star; that was a beautiful thing, but external and distant; rather a long way off. We read of people who saw the promises from afar off and embraced them, a long reach to embrace promises which were afar off! But God's salvation is near in Luke 2, and it is in such a form that it can be affectionately embraced. All was there in Him, and there is no light, glory, or salvation anywhere else. Faith might give a man great expectations and desires, but think of the marvellous depth and fulness of the expectations and desires that the Holy Spirit could give to a man! What we see in Simeon is that the Holy Spirit was upon him; he was controlled as to his thoughts and aspirations and expectations by the Spirit. But the moment came when every expectation and desire that the Spirit of God had given him was realised; it was the happiest day of his life. There was nothing to be added; everything was there in that Babe of six weeks old; God's salvation and the glory of Israel were there to be affectionately embraced. For a man who embraced Him, there was nothing else he could want; he says, I am prepared to go now.
Simeon had also before him what we may call the dark side of things. He not only saw the brightest light that ever shone in human eyes, but he saw the conditions in which that light was going to shine; he saw that the reception and result of it was going to be mixed. "For this child is set for the fall and rising up of many in Israel, and for a sign spoken against". He was going to be a stone of stumbling and rock of offence according to Isaiah 8; many were going to fall; that was very solemn. God's light and salvation and Israel's glory were there, but they were going to be met by the enmity of the human heart. What a terrible thing for human beings to stumble over Jesus into everlasting perdition!
"And even a sword shall go through thine own soul". Mary represented the favoured remnant of Israel to whom the Child was born and the Son given, and that favoured remnant had to go through the deep sorrow of seeing the nation reject Him. He was God's salvation, God's light, and Israel's glory,
and yet Israel, whose consolation He was, would reject Him. It was real anguish, a sword piercing the soul.
Simeon spoke of the thoughts being revealed from many hearts. I have no doubt that the thoughts of all hearts will be brought to light, but God delights in bringing to light the thoughts of His saints about Jesus. It is over 1900 years since He died, and, ever since, the Spirit of God has been filling the hearts of His saints with thoughts of Jesus. How many books it would take to record them all! Look at the woman in Luke 7. She was at His feet, washing them with tears and anointing them with myrrh; it was an affectionate handling of Him, revealing the thoughts of her heart. Many of us have truths and doctrines pretty clearly; if anybody says what is wrong we can spot it in a minute. But heaven is interested in our embracing Jesus in our affections, so that we have precious thoughts of Jesus that can be revealed. If our hearts could be turned inside out, what would be revealed? For nineteen centuries the saints have been speaking of Jesus, and preaching about Him, and praising Him; they have been writing hymns, and singing hymns; they have been conversing about Him; to say nothing about all the unspoken and unwritten thoughts! When those thoughts are all revealed, there will be a wonderful library for heaven to read.
Anna brings before us another side of things. The Spirit of God dwells on the length and varied character of her experience; that is the marked feature. What Anna had reached, she had reached through a long history of experience with God. It was not simply that the Spirit had said things to her as He did to Simeon, but she was a woman who had been working out things in her own exercises for many long years. That is what marks a prophetess -- a prophetess must have soul-history, and what she acquired through long experience with God became the word of God in testimony. Simeon represents those for whom the Spirit does things, but Anna represents what is worked out through soul-history and experience; the two have to be put together.
We are told that Anna had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. Living with her husband is put in contrast, it seems to me, with abiding in the temple. She had to face the experience of death coming in on the natural. However happy she was with her husband, its effect practically was to detain her from absolute devotion to the service of God
God brought death in, and her whole heart turned to God. She had deep sorrow, but it liberated her. From that moment she dedicated herself entirely to God; she lived in the temple and served; he whole course changed from that point -- it was a solemn experience. The Spirit of God does not tell us these things for nothing. Anna learnt that what was legitimate in nature might detain one from being dedicated to the service of God. So her whole course afterwards was marked by fastings, by the refusal of that which was legitimate on the natural side. She had learned her lesson. She did not fast merely sometimes, but went on "serving night and day with fastings and prayers". She continued in the refusal of what might have been legitimate on the natural line but which she had learned might interfere with absolute devotion to the service of God. From the death of her husband, she had dedicated herself entirely to the service of God up to 84 years. And she prayed; prayer brings in what is of God. She acquired, by the course of exercise she went through, the knowledge of the mind of God for testimony; thus she became a prophetess. We can understand that Anna spoke of Jesus. She praised God and spoke of Him; she had the word of God in testimony, but it was the result of her long soul-history with God.
Anna was of the tribe of Asher, meaning happy, blessed. The blessing of Asher is very beautiful: "Asher, his bread shall be fat, and he will give royal dainties", Genesis 49:20. And again, "Asher shall be blessed with sons: let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Iron and brass shall be thy bolts; and thy rest as thy days", Deuteronomy 33:24, 25. As dwelling in the temple and continuing in fastings and prayers she had the fatness and wealth of what God could be to her, and she had the word of God in testimony. What force there would be in her giving praise to God! All that she had learned to value and look for through her long years of exercise was there in the holy Child, and God gave her access to many to whom she was acceptable; she knew "all those who waited for redemption in Jerusalem". We learn thus that there were many people in Jerusalem looking for redemption, and they had "royal dainties" given to them when Anna spoke to them of Jesus.
A touch of grace comes out in the fact that Anna was of Israel, not of Judah; as being of the tribe of Asher, she represents
the ten tribes rather than the two. It shows that God had reserved something for Himself even in the ten tribes. Anna would justify Paul in saying, "Our whole twelve tribes serving incessantly day and night". No doubt Anna's movements were by the Spirit, but what is called attention to in her case is the long experience that she had had with God in varied conditions. Power for testimony came in as a result of that. Simeon was marked by embracing Jesus, and speaking of Him, as we might say, in private. But in Anna we see the word of God in testimony; she is a prophetess, and speaks to all in Jerusalem who waited for redemption. There were those in Jerusalem who were sympathetic with heaven, and to such persons God had much to say concerning Jesus. It is interesting to see that the spirit of prophecy had not died out; it was found, perhaps in a feeble form, in an aged widow. The prophetic word had not been withdrawn; the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus; so Anna spoke of Him. Those who waited for redemption were the product of the spirit of prophecy; it had brought forth fruit in them. God had preserved that which would produce a generation deeply interested in Jesus, so that Anna had a responsive audience; she had something to say that profoundly interested those who were waiting for redemption. No doubt this was a compensation to her for those long years during which she had the experience of death on her choicest natural affections.
Those waiting for redemption get the good of any prophetic ministry that the Lord is giving, and the prophetic spirit will never be withdrawn. The spirit that can give us the mind of God for the moment is going to remain here until the kingdom is established. It will be here as long as the church is here; and after the church is gone the prophetic spirit will be here, and it will always be the testimony of Jesus. All that God can delight in is in Jesus, and God will judge all that He will judge because it does not correspond with Jesus. This makes the prophetic word interesting. God is going to judge Babylon, Tyre, Sidon, Egypt and Assyria, because they do not correspond with Jesus; everything that does not correspond with Jesus must go out. All the blessedness of that Person is for us at this moment; when we come together it is to open our hearts to impressions of Jesus.
Jesus came into conditions like our own; He came into conditions in which He had to grow up, and He had an appropriate
place in which to grow up; no doubt that is as true of every one of us as it was of Jesus. "They returned to Galilee to their own city Nazareth, and the child grew and waxed strong". All that was typified in the firstborn was there in Jesus; perfection was found in conditions where its development and growth might be wholly according to God in its own appropriate place. We read in Zechariah 6:12, "Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, Behold a man whose name is the Branch; and he shall grow up from his own place, and he shall build the temple of Jehovah; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne". To build the temple, and bear the glory, and sit and rule upon His throne were preceded by growing up from His own place.
There was reproach connected with Galilee and Nazareth, but the small place, and the obscure place, and the place of reproach are favourable to divine growth. The small circumstances and common-place things of every-day life test us, but they are the appropriate place for spiritual growth. Nazareth is more favourable really than David's city. The Lord reminded Saul of Tarsus from the very height of glory that He was Jesus the Nazaraean -- He will for ever be Jesus the Nazaraean. He grew up from His own place; it was not a place that was outwardly or circumstantially favourable. We have no record that there was ever a conversion in Nazareth during the Lord's life and ministry on earth. It was the place where the Lord stood up to read and told them that the Scripture was fulfilled in their ears. There had never been such a wonderful preaching, but it was to an audience entirely unsympathetic; that shows the real power of the anointing. Any of us could preach to a sympathetic audience; but to set the grace of God before a people who are at the bottom entirely unsympathetic requires divine power.
We read here that as a little Child in Nazareth He was filled with wisdom, and God's grace was upon Him. Could anything be more wonderful than to see this little Child growing up from earliest infancy with never at any moment a foolish thought in His mind or heart? To be "filled with wisdom" means that not a foolish thought was there. Then the grace of God was upon Him; there was nothing to be seen in that Child but what was the expression of the grace of God. The words used would suggest that He was clothed with it. It is said of the disciples in Acts 4 that "great grace was upon them
all". They were acting in grace, selling their possessions and goods and giving to every one who had need, so that it could be said that the grace of God was upon them. It is wonderful to think of that little Child in whom was nothing to be seen but the grace of God, and that more and more manifest every day as He grew up to boyhood. At the end of the chapter we read that Jesus advanced in wisdom; He was always filled with wisdom, everything was suitable, and there was always perfection, but it developed as He grew in stature. There was never anything that He had to grow out of; He never had to unlearn anything. What was there was always perfection in its place, but there was enlargement in it: He "advanced in wisdom and stature". All was suitable; there was nothing unnatural in the Lord.
Saying that He "waxed strong" is looking at Him as developing from the weakness of infancy. A new-born babe who was powerful would be unnatural. A new-born babe is as weak as anything to be found in the world, and the Son of the Highest came into that condition of weakness, and from it He grew and waxed strong. He grew up from the weakness of an infant to the strength of a child and then to a boy, and finally to manhood. He went through every stage of human life, which Adam never did. Adam could not have been sympathetic with the feelings of a child; he could never have understood them. But Jesus has been a little Child, so that He can be sympathetic with all the exercises of a little child. I do not suppose any of us knows how early spiritual exercises may begin in the heart of a child, but Jesus can be sympathetic with them. Samuel is an instance of one who heard the Lord's voice very early in life, and there are many such, thank God! Jesus has gone through every experience that could be the part of humanity in the path of faith from childhood up to manhood. There is not a stage of human life in which God has not been perfectly glorified. He is qualified to build the temple, and to reign, and to exercise priesthood; He is qualified for all that by growing up from His own place.
Jesus had been in the form of God, but He made Himself of no reputation. He came into the place of absolute subjection and obedience; it was a new estate for Him to take up. What would be apostasy in the creature was perfection in Christ. Human perfection has been seen in Jesus. He never was anything less than "God over all, blessed for ever", but He
came down from Godhead's fullest glory into the place of obedience; we come up from all the degradation of our ruined state to be exalted by obedience. What humiliation for Christ! What exaltation for us! He accepted the place that God appointed for Him. We are restless and often anxious to get out of the place which God puts us in; but, if we could get out of it, we should only deprive ourselves of divinely appointed conditions for growth. We may be sure that God puts us in the right place to grow. His appointments are never a mistake. We see in Jesus the beautiful development of perfection, and it all opened out in Nazareth.
Then we have a wonderful incident which has been selected by the Spirit of God because God would not leave us without some impression of those hidden thirty years. The Spirit of God has selected the incident that was best suited to show it to us. We see in it for the first time the interests and promptings of His own heart. The development we have spoken of went on to the age of thirty; then it was complete. The Lord Himself spoke of growth as being "first the blade, then an ear, then full corn in the ear". We might say that He was "the blade" as the little Child; then at twelve years of age we see what would answer to "an ear"; and at thirty there was the "full corn in the ear". As fully developed He was anointed for service. The perfection we see in Him at twelve years of age is not perfection connected with service or ministry, but perfection in the interests of His heart.
Joseph and Mary were excellent persons; what we know of them would give us a great impression of their piety, but they were not absorbed with the things of God as He was, and there is in this incident in the end of the chapter a certain suggestion of failure on their part. They had not realised the value of the precious treasure that had been entrusted to their care; they went a whole day without Him. "His parents went yearly to Jerusalem to the feast of the passover"; it was an assembly matter. When he was twelve years old they went up to the place where Jehovah set His Name; all Israel had to come there. Others might come and do what was necessary and return to their homes, but Jesus was held by the blessedness of the place where Jehovah had set His Name. It is one thing to fall in with assembly customs, but another to have the heart commanded by the blessedness of God's things. His was the latter part; His remaining behind was the fruit of
spiritual intuition. It is striking that the first recorded action of the Lord should be of that character, an intuition rather than obedience to a command. Joseph and Mary do not shine in this incident; they ought never to have gone without Him for a whole day. Then in seeking Him among their relations and acquaintances they were altogether off the line on which He moved. They ought to have known that He did not live in the sphere of what is natural. When they returned to Jerusalem they spent three days seeking Him, and came to the temple as the last place to be searched. Jesus says to them, "Why is it that ye have sought me? did ye not know that I ought to be occupied in my Father's business?" Joseph and Mary represent those who have true affection for the Lord but who are not spiritual enough to know whether He is with them or not. He is often supposed to be in the company when He is not. Many people tell us they are gathered to His Name and have His presence, when perhaps He is not there at all. Joseph and Mary found that Jesus was not with them, not in their company, and for three or four days they were without Him. What an experience! Mary might well say, "We have sought thee distressed", It would be a good thing if some of us were distressed when we have been a day or two without the Lord. We ought to know when He is not with us, and we ought not to go on supposing He is with us when He is not.
Mary and Joseph ought to have known where to find the Lord. This was not public service, but the condition of His heart in relation to the things of God. I believe this incident was selected by the Spirit of God to show us what governed Him in His affections and interests all through those hidden thirty years. We have but this one precious utterance from His life for thirty years. "Occupied in my Father's business" covers the thirty years, not in public ministry, but His inward occupation of heart. His mother had said to Him, "Thy father and I have sought thee distressed". He puts all that aside; His Father's business governed Him; Jerusalem, the temple, the teachers, were all to Him that Scripture showed them to be. As the Lord grew up He was absorbed with what was spiritual, and with God's interests. That is why He listened to the teachers and asked them questions. How this holy Child must have pondered the Scriptures! With what intense interest did He listen to those who were teaching the
law and the Scriptures! What questions He had to ask as He heard them! All who heard Him wondered at His understanding and answers. All the Lord's understanding and thoughts were formed by the Scriptures, His whole interest was in them, so that those who taught the Scriptures were more interesting to Him than anything else in Jerusalem. It was His Father's business, and He was occupied in it. We can all be occupied in it, too.
The time had not yet come for the Lord to take up the public work which His Father had given Him to do; He did not do that until after He was anointed, but His whole heart and soul were engrossed in His Father's business. It is open to us to be concerned and occupied with it; it is an inward state of heart. I have often thought of the Levite coming to the place where Jehovah sets His name "according to all the desire of his soul", Deuteronomy 18:6. This incident was recorded to show us what governed the Lord at the age of twelve, where His interests were, even as a Boy. But the veil so lifted was quickly dropped. He was still a Boy, and His place was that of subjection. He accepted the ordering of God for Him at the time, and that ordering was for Him to be in subjection to those who were in the place of parents to Him. He went down to Nazareth with them and was in subjection to them. How perfect He was in all things! And there He "advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man". Everything was so morally beautiful that men were constrained to accord Him their favour. The time had not yet come for His testimony to touch their consciences, and bring out the enmity of their hearts,
The public position is taken account of in the opening verses of this chapter; everything that publicly attached to Israel had broken down. The times of the Gentiles were running their course; the Roman power ruled. That in itself was the evidence that the kingdom had passed away from Israel. Descendants of Esau were subordinate rulers in that which had been David's kingdom. As to the priesthood we are told that it was the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
and Luke states elsewhere that they were of the sect of the Sadducees. I understand that Annas had been deposed, but he continued to exercise the authority of high priest along with his son-in-law Caiaphas. The point here is to bring out how the kingdom and priesthood had lost their divine character. The men who were exercising the priesthood were Sadducees; they denied that there was any spirit or resurrection; they answered to the infidels of today. But if the kingdom and priesthood had both broken down, there was another element, thank God, that did not break down. The kingdom and priesthood had failed, but the prophetic word came to John in the wilderness. God always reserves to Himself the right to speak, whatever failure there may be on the part of men. That is an important principle. Publicly the administration entrusted to the church has broken down, but God still reserves to Himself the right to speak. He has spoken in the last dark day of the church's departure and His word is a pure word, it does not break down. Annas and Caiaphas were the chief promoters of the crucifixion of the Lord. That was the character of the priesthood; they were thorough unbelievers. It is a great comfort to see that, however things which God committed to man have broken down, the prophetic word has always been available and always will be.
The word of God came upon John. God spoke then in view of the coming of Christ, and He is speaking now in the last days of the church in view of Christ's coming again. The state of things in the church is every bit as bad as, or worse than, the state of things in Israel, but God is speaking in a distinct and marked way. God has been bringing in light ever since the Reformation; every century He has brought in more light; the word of God has been given and it is that which emancipates the people of God. They have been able to escape from what is really the word of man by receiving the word of God; the word brings forth a generation that is according to God. It is incorruptible seed and it brings forth a generation like itself. What marks Philadelphia is, "thou hast kept my word"; such persons receive and value the word of God. God is speaking in grace, and that will always be the character of divine speaking while the assembly is here. The word of God is the word of grace; Paul says, "I commend you to God and the word of his grace".
The word of God to John concerned the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins; it was a word of Pure grace and it became fruitful; the grace of God opened up new ground for people to take. The great lesson of John's ministry is that man is shut up to God. God was going to take a wondrous way, but that way had to be prepared, and God Himself had to prepare it. Repentance is a fruitful principle in the soul, for it involves, through grace, moral adjustment by the salvation of God. Those who were baptised by John acknowledged that they had nothing to look forward to but coming wrath. But by the favour of God they were permitted to take entirely new ground as judging themselves, and looking to God for remission of sins and for His salvation. Repentance results from a moral work of God in men, in which it is recognised that, if there is to be any blessing, it must be wholly of God. There is no natural ground on which we can have it.
If God moves in grace, it is to remove every obstacle or difficulty that stands in His way; that comes out in this quotation from Isaiah: "every gorge shall be filled up". The gorges represent what does not come up to the proper level; there is deficiency, the valleys have to be filled up. This is illustrated in the crowds, who were lacking in gracious consideration for others and who said, "What should we do?" John says, "He that has two body coats, let him give to him that has none, and he that has food, let him do likewise". If God comes in to operate in grace and salvation, He will fill up every deficiency. But on the other hand there are mountains and hills which have to be brought low; they represent such as the Pharisees boasting that they had Abraham for their father; all that sort of thing has to come down; if God moves in grace He will bring it down. Then the "crooked places" have their counterpart in such as the tax-gatherers who made people pay too much; the soldiers, oppressing and falsely accusing, would answer to the "rough places". If God operates in grace He adjusts everything so that all flesh shall see His salvation; in result all can see how God can adjust man morally at every point. He deals with every condition, and He adjusts everything that is wrong, whether it is deficient, or high and haughty, or crooked, or rough -- God takes His own way to bring about moral conditions that are suitable to Himself.
There are many crooked and rough places today; we have to take it home. Has everything been brought into adjustment with God in our souls so that not a single thing is left to
interfere with God's way in grace? The grace of God operates to effect perfect moral adjustment, and all is brought to pass through man's realising what there is for him in God through grace. He has to give up all hopes of remedying his own condition; baptism means that all thought of that is given up; man must go under the water out of sight. Through the favour of God it is possible to take new ground, to repent and look to God for remission of sins and salvation. Salvation would involve complete moral adjustment.
John teaches the necessity for new birth in a very striking way, though he does not exactly put it in those word>. He says to them, "God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham". I have no doubt that is an allusion to the necessity for the new birth. If God makes a stone into a child it is a very sovereign movement, and that God should so act is the only hope for man. As far as man is concerned there is not a bit of anything in him for God, but if God makes a stone into a child it is a miracle of mercy. Man after the flesh is morally the offspring of Satan, the "offspring of vipers", and therefore that man never has brought forth good fruit, and never can. John says that the time has come to deal with the tree right down to the root. It is not a question merely of the fruit but of the tree; he says, "Every tree therefore not producing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire"; the axe is applied to the root of the trees. The root is what mar, is according to the flesh. Man according to the flesh never did bring forth good fruit, and the time had come for all expectations from man after the flesh to cease, not only for the tree to be cut down, but to be cast into the fire. It is quite certain that if you cut a tree down you do not expect fruit from it afterwards, and still less would you expect any fruit if it had been cast into the fire: that is the complete and final rejection of it so that henceforth nothing is to be expected from it; you cannot revive it. Such a statement as this looks on to the cross, where there was the cutting down and casting into the fire of all that man is according to the flesh, in order that the ground might be cleared for a new generation raised up by God Himself out of what was lifeless -- "these stones".
"All flesh shall see the salvation of God". What God was going to do in grace would be the testimony to His salvation; it will be so when God saves Israel. When all Israel shall be saved, all flesh shall see the salvation of God in Israel. God's
intention now is that all flesh should see His salvation in His people. If the church had continued in unity, what a testimony there would have been in this world to the salvation of God, people walking in holiness and righteousness and serving God all the days of their lives! What a testimony to God's saving power! If a man who has been a notorious drunkard, an evil living man, or a violent-tempered man, by the grace of God escapes from that and becomes characterised by just the opposite features and without boastfulness or pretension walks humbly with his God -- what a testimony it is!
Everyone can see the salvation of God. There is a power about it. People take a great deal of notice of Christians; they watch us all the time, but do they see the salvation of God in us? The jailor at Philippi saw the salvation of God in Paul and Silas, and he said, I would like to be saved too. The great point is that men should be turned to God. It was said of John, "Many of the sons of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God". If man turns to God, God in grace will adjust him and save him and give him repentance and remission of sins and everything he needs. The whole question is, Do we turn to God? Naturally we have all sorts of expedients of our own, but the secret of blessing is to turn to God. God says in substance in the glad tidings, 'I will do everything for you if you will only turn to Me'; that is the God we have to do with. In the end He will have His garner full of precious wheat.
The evidence of man's sinful state is that all his thoughts centre in himself and his own advantage. Men in the world are marked by self, but, when God's grace comes to a man, instead of living for himself he begins to think of the good of others (verse 11). The question is not raised here of men leaving military service, but of behaving rightly in it. I believe, in the wonderful grace of God, it has pleased Him to have some testimony in almost every condition of life. Every saint should be exercised to be in keeping with his Christian profession; there is no Scripture to say that a man who is a soldier must give it up; God has left it to personal exercise. It is part of the liberty of Christianity that there are a number of things concerning which there is no legislation; they are left to individual exercise, and in such cases it becomes a question of how much I know God. I am told to abide in the calling wherein I am called "with God". If I increase my
knowledge of God I shall be exercised about things I was not exercised about when I did not know Him so well. The Christian does not judge of things in a legal way, but according to the spiritual intuitions of one who knows God, of course in the light of all that is enjoined, or found in principle in Scripture. God likes to see His people moving in their own exercises and spiritual intuitions. A man baptised by the Holy Spirit will have exercises according to God. In every case contemplated here things are adjusted: valleys filled, mountains and hills brought down, crooked places made straight, and rough places made smooth -- all is adjusted. And then John says, 'There is One greater than I coming after me; He is so great that I am not worthy to unloose His sandals': "he shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire". What a thought it must have conveyed to his congregation of the greatness of the coming One! John was full of the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb; he was an extraordinary man, but the Lord was infinitely greater.
I think there is at the present day special need to be more exercised about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. All round about us people are talking a great deal about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and connecting it with all kinds of things that more or less attract attention, professed healing and speaking with tongues and so on. In a day when the religious world is full of all sorts of notions about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we ought to be exercised to be in the spiritual genuineness of it. There is, I am afraid, a lack with us of that purifying of which the fire speaks. It indicates purification of the dross. Water baptism has an aspect of external purification, as purifying from evil associations, but fire penetrates to the very inwardness; the refiner's purifying fire searches out the inwardness of man, it is an intense purification, and would be connected with what the Lord said in Malachi 3:3, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he will purify the children of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver". Fire penetrates to the most inward feelings and motives of one's heart and does not leave unjudged any dross. If I could speak with a tongue I should be a rather great person, much more important than one who could not; and if I could heal people or work miracles I should be a wonderful man. But to be inwardly in accord with God is much greater morally than to do such things. The Spirit and fire would exercise a purifying influence
to the very centre of a man's moral being so that there should not be anything in his secret thoughts, feelings, or desires that is contrary to God. Are we prepared to go in for that? There is fear lest young people may be drawn away from a divine path under the influence of high sounding talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and its results in outward signs. It ought to be an exercise with us to know the One who baptises with the Holy Spirit. John says, "He shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit".
The great mark of having been baptised with the Holy Spirit would be that we should work together harmoniously as members of that body into which He has baptised us. The baptism of the Spirit is not exactly an individual matter; it puts all the saints vitally together in a living organism, and the great evidence of the power of the Spirit is that we function properly as members of the body. To function properly as a member of the body of Christ is morally greater than to work a miracle or speak with tongues.
John speaks of Jesus in two characters -- as baptising with the Holy Spirit and fire, and as purging His threshing-floor. That covers the service of Jesus as John has it in view. He secures the wheat by baptising with the Holy Spirit, and that necessitates the winnowing away of all that is of the flesh. I have no doubt that the result of John's ministry needed to be winnowed. There was wheat there, but chaff also. The Lord's ministry had a winnowing effect; it got rid of what was of no value, even though clearly associated with what was of God. I suppose John recognised that there was much in the threshing-floor as the result of his ministry that would not go into the garner, and his words contained a solemn warning that the chaff would be burned with fire unquenchable. But I think we may regard the winnowing as also setting forth a service by which the Lord displaces worthless flesh even in true saints.
The threshing-floor is the place where wheat is found on its way to the garner. It answers to the present place of the saints; we are in His threshing-floor now, not yet in His garner. The saints are viewed as wheat, that is, as having divine value as being morally of Christ's kind. Fire is the most penetrating form of purification that there is, and that goes along with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. All that is of the flesh will be burnt up, however pretentious it is,
Baptising with the Holy Spirit brings in what has positive value before God, and it suggests that there will be no positive value for God in man apart from the Spirit. All that is of the flesh is worthless; it is a pity to cling to it, for it will all be burnt up. The baptism of the Spirit necessitates the refusal of the flesh in a way that was not possible before the Spirit was given. In the Old Testament there are certain allowances made for the flesh, but no allowances are made now. We can speak of infinite grace, but there is no grace for the flesh. To be baptised with the Spirit would indicate that men were to be characterised by the Holy Spirit, and nothing outside that would yield any pleasure to God.
The axe being laid to the root of the tree shows that the time had come for God to deal with the root of things; He was going to the very root of what man is as in the flesh, and dealing with it so that there might be a clear course for His grace in Christ. If the man characterised by sin and death is cut down, the way is cleared for the second Man out of heaven to bring in all the pleasure of God. The question is, Are we prepared to let Him have His way with us? It is well to note that all this was John's "glad tidings to the people".
The result -- man characterised by the Holy Spirit -- has been perfectly patterned in Jesus, so that we see the true nature of the wheat by looking at Him. Wheat has precious value before God as being characterised by the Holy Spirit. Winnowing is not a violent or destructive process like burning up; it is displacing in a gentle way. The winnowing fan creates a movement of air which blows the chaff away; it is a gentle movement, effectual, but not of a violent character; such is the Lord's present service. One great object which the Lord has in view in all ministry is to practically displace the flesh; He displaces it by that which is of the Spirit, and which has been perfectly patterned in Himself. There is discipline and ministry. Tribulation is a word which I believe is connected with threshing, but winnowing comes after the threshing. Threshing I should understand to have more of a disciplinary character. The discipline of God is always of a delivering nature; it always cuts where the flesh tends to be most active. Winnowing gets rid of the chaff, so that it does not remain in evidence; nothing remains to be seen but the wheat, what is like Christ as Man in the Holy Spirit. The temptation in chapter 4 was necessary in order that it might
be manifested what Man is as characterised by the Holy Spirit.
The winnowing process would go on much faster if we submitted ourselves more to the Lord. There is a great lack of subjection with us, like Peter who said, "Thou shalt never wash my feet". The question is, What are we set to promote? We are either sowing to the flesh or to the Spirit. Are we laying ourselves out to give place and importance to Christ and the Spirit? Nothing will go into the garner but what is for the pleasure of Christ, because it is His garner.
John had before him the whole result of the Lord's coming in. The Lord did not actually baptise with the Holy Spirit until He went to the right hand of God, but John was looking at the whole result of His coming in; he had it all before him by the Spirit.
Let us cherish the thought of what has divine value; it is all to be seen and learned in Jesus, and until we learn it there I doubt if it becomes power in our souls. Therefore if one goes on habitually with what is of the flesh it indicates that there is great distance from Jesus; we have not come under His personal influence. It would raise the question whether we are like the baptised persons with whom Jesus identified Himself. The persons who were baptised by John and with whom Jesus was baptised were persons He could identify Himself with; they were renouncing all confidence in the flesh, renouncing all claim on the blessing of God by reason of goodness in themselves; Jesus would identify Himself with that. He would take that ground publicly; there is nothing more wonderful than that the Lord should take the place publicly which is set forth in the prophetic language of Psalm 16"My goodness extendeth not to thee". The known favour of God was what He lived in; blessed and sinless as He was, He delighted to be on the ground of what God was for man. He, the sinless One, would take the ground that goodness extended not from man to God but from God to man. And sinful ones could take that ground too. Wondrous to say, it was common ground for the sinless One and for repentant ones. If man is shut up to God -- which he is by his sinfulness -- he becomes a vessel to receive all that God has for man in grace. That is how man gets blessing; he owns he is sinful, has no claim, and he is shut up to God, and be becomes a vessel to receive all that God has in favour for man. Man reaches that point w$ being convicted in divine goodness of his sinful
necessities; Jesus took that ground in pure and perfect grace. Man comes up to it from his degradation; Jesus came down to it, to a place where He could say, "My goodness extendeth not to thee". In Psalm 16 He is in the place of receiving as the One who trusted in God all that the pure and boundless favour of God would delight to give. Sinful men through repentance can receive all in boundless favour too. So Jesus would be with such; He was baptised and He prayed. All that was suitable to man was patterned in Him. The Lord's words to the young man, "Why callest thou me good?" are in keeping with what we have been saying.
The Lord is seen here as in the place of entire dependence on God; there was a blessed Man here upon whom heaven could be opened; there was no longer any restraint on heaven, nothing to check its outflow; heaven was opened because a Man was found in this world who was a suitable resting-place for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit as a dove speaks of the Holy Spirit as seeking a resting place. Noah's dove sought a resting place, and the psalmist says, "Oh that I had wings as a dove; then would I fly away and be at rest". The dove seeks rest, and the Spirit of God was seeking rest in man, and He found it at last in Jesus, the perfect Man -- the One who would fully take the place of dependence on God.
Here we see the second Man out of heaven taking the place before God of identification with those who renounced all claim and cast themselves wholly upon what God was in favour to men. If there was nothing in man for God there was everything in God for man, and it is in the apprehension of that that men become objects of good pleasure to God. Jesus was publicly acknowledged here as the beloved Son in whom God had found His delight. As Man He derived everything from God, His whole being was derived from God, and morally He had ever lived by what God was to Him; He was the beloved Son, and God's delight was in Him. Man in the Person of Jesus is seen in the place of sonship, seen as the resting-place of the Spirit, every desire of God's heart supremely gratified in One who looked up to Him to receive all that divine favour was pleased to bestow on man.
Our coming into the wealth and blessedness of this favour is dependent on redemption being accomplished, Jesus being glorified, and the Spirit given; but it is all patterned in Jesus. He received all from God: "The lines are fallen unto me in
pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage. Jehovah is the portion of my inheritance and of my lot". As the dependent Man He received all that God was pleased to give as the full expression of His favour to man. Sonship for God's delight was there; Man in supreme favour and blessedness with God in the Person of His beloved Son is seen here as identified with repentant ones, who would through infinite grace become His joint heirs. All through the thirty years He had been God's delight; He had ever been in complete dependence on God, and the intelligent and affectionate answer of the beloved Son to God had always been there. But the heavenly host had said, "Good pleasure in men". All that was patterned in Jesus will be brought to pass for the delight of God in "many sons". The delight of God found in Jesus He will find in every grain of wheat that goes into the garner. It is reached on very simple lines; if we take the place of having no claim, the only question is, What is the favour of God to man? If we take the place of having any claim we cannot receive as of pure divine favour alone. God has no favour for man on that line. His favour for man is on the line of pure grace and depends on what He is. The supreme thought of divine favour for man is sonship. God has secured it in one Man; what He had cherished in the purpose of His love from eternity, He has secured in one Man. Now He can secure it through redemption in myriads. In Mark and Luke it is "Thou art my beloved Son", but in Matthew, "This is my beloved Son". The anointing in Matthew is more official -- God calling attention to Him, "This is my beloved Son". But when He says, "Thou art my beloved Son", He is expressing His own delight in Him; that involves the sealing.
"The Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove upon him". This seems to convey the striking thought that the Spirit of God as characterising man was going to come into tangible expression in Jesus. If we want to understand what man is as characterised by the Spirit we must look at Jesus; it was expressed there in a bodily form.
The genealogy here is, I believe, the genealogy of Mary; that in Matthew is the legal genealogy of the King traced from Joseph; but here, as we have before noticed, the genealogy is traced up to God. I have the impression that every one of these persons named had some features derived from God; it is not a genealogy derived from the fallen man, but derived
from God. The Lord came in as the fulness of everything that had been produced in man by the grace of God for 4000 years. He came in as the culminating point, and all the fulness of it was there in Him. The Lord did not identify Himself with the fallen race but with man viewed as the subject of divine grace.
We all know a good deal about man in the flesh, not only from Scripture, but from personal experience and by observation of others, but God would have us to apprehend and appreciate the moral beauty that has been disclosed in His beloved Son, who was here in manhood wholly for His delight. He came to that place in view of God's thought to have many sons before Him for the pleasure of His love. God would have it to be evidenced that a dependent Man full of the Holy Spirit can withstand "every temptation".
Luke is the only evangelist who speaks of the Lord as being full of the Holy Spirit; Luke presents Him as a vessel in manhood for the Holy Spirit. With one exception Luke is the only New Testament writer who speaks of men being full of the Holy Spirit. The one exception is in Ephesians 5, where Paul says, "be filled with the Spirit". But Luke speaks repeatedly in the Acts of disciples and servants as full of the Holy Spirit. That kind of man is seen patterned in Jesus.
There was no unsuitability in that holy Person; He did not need to have suitability conferred on Him. If we are to be filled with the Spirit it is obvious that suitability must be conferred on us; it is not personal to us as it was to Him. Our suitability to receive the Spirit is the result of our being in the value of redemption, and it is by the working of God that brings us through many exercises into suitability. But Christ was personally suitable as a vessel to be full of the Holy Spirit. It is touching to observe that He was sealed with the Spirit at the moment when He was identifying Himself with the repentant company; it shows the kind of spirit that is delightful to God. He is seen as personally delightful to God in chapter 3, and this involved His sealing, a personal matter, but He is the anointed Servant in chapter 4. What He is personally
precedes, and is morally greater than, what He is officially. As regards ourselves it is good to be exercised as to what we are personally and spiritually rather than as to what we might be officially: one might have capacity to serve the Lord in some way, but to be in conscious sonship for the delight of God is greater.
Spiritual suitability in full maturity is seen here in the Lord Jesus. Luke presents a wondrous development in Him; He introduces the Lord as a Babe, and he calls our attention in a marked way to His growth, His increase to full maturity. I have likened it to the Lord's word, "First the blade, then an ear, then full corn in the ear", Mark 4:28. In the little Child who had the grace of God upon Him (Luke 2:40) we see the "blade": at twelve years of age we see the "ear" -- things taking definite and intelligent form for God; then at thirty years of age we see the "full corn in the ear" -- everything had come to maturity. There was no single element wanting that could be for the pleasure of God in Man. He thus comes into view as the incomparable Vessel, full of the Holy Spirit. An entirely new character of things came in with the Lord. If we want to know the character of man as dependent and as full of the Holy Spirit we must contemplate Jesus.
In regard to the temptation it is to be noted that He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness to be tempted: the Spirit was the first mover, not the devil. It was necessary that what man was as dependent and as full of the Holy Spirit should be manifested in the presence of all the power and subtlety of the devil. It was not a test of man as independent of God; that testing had been going on for four thousand years, and at every moment the independent man had proved a failure, but God would have it manifested that the dependent Man full of the Spirit was able to withstand the whole power of evil. That is an immense thing for us to understand: God is well pleased that we should contemplate the perfection of Jesus, and look on Him as the pattern of what man really is as dependent and full of the Holy Spirit.
The features that come out here are of the utmost importance. We may be sure that the devil would not raise minor points, but would attempt to strike at that which was most precious to God, and most essential to the life of man in relation to God. Then, on the other hand, these features were precisely
those which the Spirit of God intended should be brought to light. God would engage our hearts with the positive features in Christ which were disclosed in Him as tempted; they are features which are proper to man as in relation to God. We see one here as Man in the place of man's responsibility, filling that place with absolute perfection. In Him we see Man in responsibility without any failure, without any imperfection, marked by dependence and the presence of the Spirit. God's thought is to have man in responsibility after the pattern of Jesus; it is the proper character of the sons of God. As a Christian I learn what I am privileged to be as in responsibility, not from man after the flesh, but from Christ. He came into the place of man's responsibility, and has filled it with absolute perfection; not as having strength or resource in Himself at all -- that is the wonder of it -- but as having confidence in God. He filled that place as the dependent Man drawing every bit of strength and support from the God whom He trusted. He has fulfilled responsibility in exactly the same way as we are privileged to fulfil it. If I were always dependent and full of the Holy Spirit I should always fulfil my responsibility for the pleasure of God. There has been One here upon earth as Man who lived by every word of God, and was dependent upon God at every moment and in every step, and everything in Him was for God's delight. I need not say that there was much more than fulfilled responsibility in Christ, for there was in Him the perfect setting forth of the favour and love of God to men, but we are speaking for the moment of what was tested and brought out by the temptations of the devil. What came out as the result of his temptations was that there was a Man upon this earth in whom man's relations with God were seen in perfect adjustment, and so secured that not all the power of the devil could disturb the adjustment.
No doubt the devil was aware that He had been saluted from heaven as the beloved Son of God, but it was morally impossible for the devil to know the Person that he was tempting. How could an evil being understand a Person who was absolutely true and holy and good? If the devil had known Him morally he would never have tempted Him; he would have known that it was utterly useless to present such things to Him. But God permitted the temptation, and it was by the leading of the Holy Spirit that Jesus went into it, in order that the true character of Man in dependence and full of the Holy
Spirit might be manifested, and that it should be seen that such a Man could maintain all His relations with God inviolate. God has introduced into this world, in the Person of His beloved Son, something which is invulnerable in presence Of all the power of evil. Perfection was there which the devil could not touch so as to mar it in any way.
It was important in the first place that it should be demonstrated how man lives in relation to God. The first temptation brought that out; man lives "by every word of God". He lives by what God is pleased to communicate to him. It was this great lesson which God was seeking to make Israel know in the wilderness. "He suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna ... that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by everything that goeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live". It is by receiving communications from God that man lives; there is no other life for man as to his spirit, which is indeed the true man; he cannot live by any outward resources. We ail naturally turn to something else, but it fails. We think it will be some satisfaction to do this or that, something that we mark out for ourselves, but humbling and hunger come in on that line. The cravings of the spirit of man are not met by such things, as we see in the book of Ecclesiastes. We scheme and plan and work out our designs to completion if God allows it, but we find there is no life on that line at all; we cannot get bread from stones, but communications from God enable a man to live. All the exercises of the wilderness were designed to teach the children of Israel that lesson, and we have to learn it too. Material things, and what we can get in a natural way, do not bring in life for our spirits in relation to God. Some of the Psalms are very precious as showing the value attached by men to communications from God. Men who had the Spirit of Christ attached the greatest value to communications from God. Psalm 19 and Psalm 119 are fine instruction as to the preciousness of "every word of God".
For about thirty years Jesus Himself had been living by the words of God, taking up each word as it came to Him, in its application to the conditions in which He was found, as light and sustainment. "Every word of God" had been appropriated by Him; the communications of God, not only as a whole, but in detail; "morning by morning" His ear had been awakened to hear as the instructed; Isaiah 50:4.
He gave every word of God its place, and He lived by the blessedness of what was communicated to Him by God. He would not make stones into bread at the tempter's instigation, for He lived in the strength of another kind of food. I suppose we have all known how a word coming to us, perhaps in pressure or circumstances of trial, has altered everything. Not that anything external was changed; the circumstances were all the same, but a word from God had come into our souls so that we lived in the blessedness of it. That is more precious than to have all the resources of the world at our disposal. The lack of resources may test us at times, and cast us upon God, but it is an even greater test to be in affluence, to have the ability to supply every desire of one's heart, and to be able in such surroundings to live by every word of God. That is the true blessedness of a saint. I have known persons with great resources as regards this world, who as to the life of their spirits did not live in these resources, but on communications coming to them from God. "Every word of God" would cover all His communications. We get the knowledge of God by listening to communications from Him. The first breath of life in a man's soul is when he receives a communication from God. It gives him what natural resources never could give him. He finds out the precious thoughts of God in regard to him, and he lives by them. Here, of course, it is not the impartation of life, but the sustainment of it. Our souls need to be set in life; Psalm 66:9. The practice of having a few verses of Scripture early in the morning is a fine support for the day, and it is wonderful how often in one's regular reading one gets just what is needed for the day. We become conscious that it is the word of God to us for the time. If we do not get it, it is very likely that before the day is over we shall be trying to make some stone into bread..
The second temptation brings out the great and blessed subject of God's service and worship, and this can only be taken up by those who know what it is to live by communications from God. God is ready to speak to us every day; He taught us that by the manna. He showed that He cared for His people every day; He did not give a week's supply but a daily supply. The Lord Himself as Man here knew what it was to live by every word of God, and we have it on record that He received communications every morning. Jehovah opened His ear to hear as the instructed One, (Isaiah 50); it is
really the word disciple: He was the true Disciple. His spirit was not sustained by outward circumstances or encouragement, but by every word of God. If He could speak of having His ear wakened, we may gather from it that we are dependent on God to waken our ears, and to speak to us every morning. He is exceedingly ready to do so. He never failed to give the manna. He never once threatened to stop the manna, although they were disobedient, rebellious, idolatrous, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt. The manna was a particular evidence of the faithfulness of God; it was never suspended however badly they behaved. We need to be much exercised as to being sustained in life, because God is a living God and He wants a living people -- people living by fresh communications each day. The Lord Jesus had fresh communications every morning; therefore He was qualified to serve; He could speak a word in season to him that was weary. He said to the disciples, "All things which I have heard of my Father I have made known to you". He received communications and passed them on. If I receive from God I have something to pass on, and others will get the benefit of it.
The full scope of man's ambition as fallen away from God is found in the power and glory of the world-kingdom, and this is also the limit of what the devil can give. He can give nothing beyond death, nothing for eternity, but power and glory in the present habitable world can be bestowed by him. He proposed to confer it on Jesus if He would but do homage before him. This brings out the terrible price at which present world glory can be purchased. To covet it is really to bow down to a power which is hostile to God. But the Son of God, the blessed dependent Man, full of the Holy Spirit, was absorbed with God, and with what is due to God. One who does homage to God will not be attracted by a power and glory which the devil can give. He has another kind of power and glory before him. "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee ... to see thy power and thy glory, as I have beheld thee in the sanctuary", Psalm 63:1, 2. It is striking that the worship and service of God should stand in contrast with wanting the power and glory of the world, If we live by what God speaks to us it is in view of our worshipping and serving in a priestly way. God's sons are also priests for holy service Godward in His house. As in the shining of God's love and delight the outgoings of the heart
are in a worshipping spirit. God has now a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. It is said of Zacharias in this gospel that he "fulfilled his priestly service before God", Those who do so find no attraction in a power and glory which the devil can confer. The house of God is a glorious place; there is a power and glory there which throws into the shade everything that is in the world.
The temptations stand in a setting which corresponds with the book of Deuteronomy, for each quotation of Scripture by the Lord is from that book, and in Deuteronomy great place is given to the place where Jehovah would cause His name to dwell, and where He would be served and worshipped. Our attention is thereby called to the magnificence of what God would set up here in contrast to everything that has power and glory in the estimation of the fallen man. Solomon's temple was, I have no doubt, the most magnificent building that ever stood on the earth; it was "great and wonderful"; but it was only a typical shadow, and we have to do with the substance. The house of God as it is on the earth at this moment is far more magnificent spiritually than Solomon's temple, and we have not to go to Jerusalem to find it.
The devil does not speak to the Lord of what men would call the evil things in the world, but of the world-kingdoms with their power and glory; he claims them as given up to him and the Lord does not dispute his claim. In that world which the devil can claim as his own there may be power and glory, and everything to satisfy ambition and the vanity and pride of man, but what is due to God cannot be found there. But in the house of God there is everything chat ministers to His pleasure; it is a spiritual house, and the sacrifices offered in it are spiritual sacrifices, and they are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
There are two great systems; the world system where man is clothed with power and glory without God, and another system where all power and glory is seen to belong to God, and where He is served and worshipped. Which system are we living in? The house of God is the assembly of the living God, and it is built up of living stones, and God is served and worshipped there. When the house was built the glory came down and filled it. I believe that is always morally true; the glory of God fills His house. To see God's power and glory as it is known in the sanctuary delivers us from the
world system. The thought at the end of Ephesians 2 is very beautiful: "all the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord". Finality is not yet reached, but the holy temple character is increasing all the time. It is not when we reach heaven, because it is "in the Lord", and that is while we are here in responsibility. There should be something more of holy temple character about the saints now than there was five years ago. We do not get free from the world merely by renouncing certain things, but by realising the moral grandeur of a sphere where everything is spiritual, where all the light of God is, and where He is served and worshipped. The great business of Israel was to go up to the place where Jehovah set His Name; they had to have that in mind all the time; and our chief business is to be engaged in the service and worship of God in His house, which is a good place for men, but which is prominently brought before us in Scripture as a place for God where there is something agreeable to Himself -- "spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ".
The devil proposed to give the power and glory of the world-kingdom to the Son of God if He would do him homage; to have that kind of power and glory involves some measure of homage to the devil. It is a very serious thing to think of. The devil said, "it is given up to me"; that would be true, not as a matter of any right to it, but as a fact through the lusts of men. The lusts of men have given the devil power, because he can minister to such lusts. The power and glory of the world have become the great prize of man's unholy ambitions, answering to every corrupt desire in the heart of a man who does not know God. How blessed to recognise another system where everything is of God, a system filled with all the perfection and blessedness of Christ, and the fruit of His work, and everything sustained by the presence of the Spirit! There is a system where God and Christ and the Spirit are the source of everything, and in that system God is served and worshipped; He is not served and worshipped in this world.
Luke puts the temptations in moral order; Matthew gives the historical order. What Luke gives as the second temptation was the last in historical order according to Matthew; when the Lord said, "Get thee away, Satan", that was the end; the devil said no more after that. But Luke puts the temptations in moral order, he writes with method, and he puts the temptations
in an ascending scale. First the temptation to make stones into bread, then the devil's offer of the power and glory of the kingdoms of the world, and then finally he brings forward what may be called a spiritual temptation. The devil is the slanderer; he slanders God to men, and he slanders the saints to God. Satan is his name as the adversary, the one who is in positive opposition to God at every point.
I do not think any other family will have the same privilege to serve and worship as we have. Praise and worship is rendered now by persons who have been in the holiest: that will not be true in the millennium. It gives the Lord joy for us to praise in concert with Him; the great delight of His heart is that we should know His God and His Father so as to worship and serve Him, and when He has brought us to that point it is His supreme satisfaction. If the Lord delighted to identify Himself with a few poor sinners who were repentant if they were to Him the excellent of the earth, of whom He could say that in them was all His delight -- how does He delight in those who have received from Himself the knowledge of His God and Father, and who live in the enjoyment of the grace and blessedness that He has brought to them! What immeasurable delight He has in such a company! He speaks of them as being not of the world; they are of a spiritual system which is outside the world altogether.
The third temptation was more subtle than the first two, because it was based upon a divine promise; it was a suggestion that the Lord should avail Himself of a promise which would show publicly that He was the subject of divine care. The devil would suggest a putting of God to the test as to whether He would be true to His word. To do so would be a proof of want of confidence in God; it would be to tempt God, as the people did when they said, "Is Jehovah among us or not?" The Lord answered this by the scripture which forbad doing so. We learn here that Satan is conversant with Scripture; he knew that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah, and he knew the scriptures referring to the Messiah, and quoted one of them. I suppose the devil knows the Bible better than any one of us and he often quotes it for his own ends. But he was careful to quote just as much as would answer his purpose; there was another verse immediately following: "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot". He did not quote that
The question is raised now whether one dependent and full of the Spirit requires any outward and circumstantial proof that God cares for Him. The Lord Jesus had a home; according to the very Psalm quoted, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty". One who is dwelling in the secret place -- one might say, in the very bosom of God -- does not need any circumstance, sign, or miracle to make him sure of God's love and care. Verse 4 of this Psalm says, "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou find refuge". Nothing could be more touching than that the blessed God should compare Himself to a bird cherishing her young; He speaks of the Messiah as being covered with His feathers. Nothing could be nearer or more intimate. He was under the warmth and cherishing of the love and care of God, and He did not need any outward sign of it. Verse 9 of the Psalm shows the conditions in which He lived: "Because thou hast made Jehovah, my refuge, the most High, thy dwelling place". That is the privilege of the saint. The dependent Man, full of the Holy Spirit, was in the most intimate enjoyment of the love of God; He lived there. It has been said that we cannot live in the world and we do not yet live in heaven; the only place where we can live is in the love of God. If you live continuously in the known love of a person, you do not think of putting that love to any test; to do so would be a proof of distrust. It is just the same with God; if we have to put Him to the test as to whether He loves and cares for us or not, it is a proof of unbelief and distrust. The apostle says, "We boast in tribulations ... because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us". That is the secret. I do not know the love of God by outward circumstances; He might allow me to suffer very severely. Many of our brethren suffer very severely; their outward circumstances do not seem to evidence that God loves them, but we know the love of God by the fact that Christ has died for us, and the Spirit of God pours that love into our hearts. We have a secret; this Psalm speaks about "the secret place of the Most High". The love of God is a blessed secret only known to those who come into the light of the death of Christ. As Christians we cherish this wonderful secret, We know the love of God in two ways; by the expression of it in the death of His Son, and by the Spirit shedding it abroad in our hearts.
It is really "the secret place", and if we live there we do not need a sign.
It is very sweet to think that God has a secret place in the heart of one where His love has become known, and we have a secret place in the heart of God. "Because he hath set his love upon me". There was a blessed Man in this world who set His love upon God, and that is our privilege too. Then there will be no thought of requiring some outward evidence of His love; we have it in the secret of our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Even Job could say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him". He had the root of the matter in him. God is pleased sometimes to leave His children in very trying circumstances and great suffering; He does not appear to intervene. I have known many saints who have not even wanted Him to intervene. They have been so happy in His known love that they have not wanted Him to change their circumstances; they have not wanted any outward sign. That is very glorifying to God. It is a great triumph on God's part to make one m such circumstances conscious of His love. I remember an old sister who had never been outside the four walls of her little room for thirty-five years, and, when my mother went to see her and said something to her about the love of God, she said, 'O, the love of God, it swallows me up'. She was in the secret place. We need to cherish that. We sing sometimes,
That is a secret place. Then you do not need to put the love of God to the test. The Scripture said, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God"; that referred to the children of Israel in the wilderness when things all went wrong and they had no water to drink. Things were looking very black; to be in a wilderness without water to drink is a dire case. But they said, "Is Jehovah among us or not?" and God never forgot it; He reminded them of it several times in their history. Think of what He had done for them: the passover lamb, the passage of the Red Sea, the pillar of fire by night, and the pillar of cloud by day, the manna every day, and yet they said, "Is Jehovah among us or not?" And for us, we have the death of His Son: "Christ has died for us". Nothing in the history of the world can be compared to that.
The Lord has overruled the devil's quoting of Psalm 91
because it attracts the attention of saints constantly to that Psalm, which so beautifully brings out the personal relations of the Lord Jesus as Man to the blessed God, so that it is a Psalm which deserves most careful consideration. It is a conversation; there are different speakers in it, but it brings out the relations of Christ as Man to God.
It is of the greatest importance that we should cultivate the secret life of our spirits with God, so that we taste the known love of God all along, and do not wait until we get into a tight place and then look to God for deliverance, and take it as a proof of His care and love; but we live in the sweetness and blessedness of the known love of God all the time. Romans 8 tell us that nothing can separate us from the love of God or the love of Christ; these are things from the preciousness of which nothing can separate us. Then why should we want any circumstances changed to make us more sure that God or Christ loves us? Nothing is more humbling than to think what a little thing can upset us; it shows how little we are really living in the love of God. We spend time in praying that God would change our circumstances, whereas we should use our time better by asking that we might be changed.
Jesus returned in the Rower of the Spirit to Galilee; He had passed through the testing with undiminished power. Full of the Holy Spirit to begin with, He was not one whit less full when He came back to take up publicly His precious service of grace as God's Anointed.
All the grace of heaven was waiting to break forth upon men, but it needed a suitable vessel in which to disclose itself. The full and perfect answer is found in Jesus. There is a Person in whom there is not the slightest disparity with heaven. Heaven found a perfect answer here on earth in a Man, so that in the presence of God He was the beloved Son -- the object of God's delight -- and in the presence of the devil He was untouchable. That is the One in whom the grace of heaven has come to man -- to us. It pleased God that the great light should shine, not in Judea, but in Galilee, for the value of a great light is best known in darkness. The prophetic word was that to a people who were in darkness and in the shadow of death the light should shine, and that light is shining still for us. It is a Person having such a character and such qualifications who is able to bring all the grace of heaven to man.
Now we see Him full of the Holy Spirit and speaking with divine authority. He is speaking in absolute grace to a people who are poor, captive, and blind. He brought tidings of immeasurable grace to those who deserved nothing. Everything that we learn in the Lord in His pathway here lives in Him in heaven, so it raises our hearts to heaven above. Every person in the world who knows the grace of God learned it from Jesus. He is still the anointed Preacher; human vessels are only mouthpieces, but Jesus is still the anointed Preacher; and Ephesians tells us that He is come to the Gentiles to preach peace to them that were afar off. He is saying the same things from heaven as He said on earth. What we have to do is to allow the Spirit of God to fill our hearts with a sense of who Jesus is and what He has brought.
The very fact that the Lord preached such wonderful divine favour to people who had not the slightest appreciation of it shows how entirely it is from God's side, because it would appear that the Lord never had one convert in Nazareth. We see this grace in all its supremacy and majesty and glory, and it shines all the more brightly because it shines in darkness. Nothing influenced the shining and the preaching -- the indifference has not influenced the preaching one iota. He came to a place where He knew He would not be appreciated: "Verily, verily, I say unto you that no prophet is accepted in his own country".
Isaiah 61 had been read on numerous occasions before, but it had never been read as it was that day, because there was something more than Scripture read -- it was Scripture fulfilled. The Lord then closed the book; He did not read a long piece -- only two verses -- but what volumes were in those two verses! Then He added something which no one could have added before: "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears". There was no haphazard reading; He found the scripture for that day; He did not read further.
Jesus represents the grace of heaven, and if we really are prepared to appreciate Him, He will become the supreme Object for each one of us. He said, "The Spirit of Jehovah is upon me, because he hath appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord", But are we poor and captive
and blind so as to appreciate Him, or are we full of self-righteous pride? That is the test, and when it comes home to us that we are blind and that we do need glad tidings and deliverance from heaven, it no longer becomes just a picture to admire; it is a personal Deliverer who captivates and charms the heart, so that we are made willing to follow Him at all cost to ourselves. If the Lord is anointed to preach glad tidings just to people who are broken-hearted, Sidonian widows or Syrian lepers are just as much entitled to it as anyone else. Both in the widow of Sarepta and in Naaman, there was that which had to be taken to pieces, so that each of them might understand the wealth of grace and mercy that had come to them, undeserving as they were.
When the Lord brought home to His congregation the real state of their hearts, it turned out that on their side they were not poor, blind, crushed, and captives; they were not at all in that spirit, for they took Him to the brow of the hill to cast Him down. We do not learn grace very readily; it is wonderful how little one's heart is prepared to take in pure grace.
Conviction of sin is of divine sovereignty; it is a divine operation which we cannot explain and no human power can bring about.
In verses 33 - 41 we see grace in its application. The condition of man is such that he is quite incapable for service either Godward or manward. But the gracious power of Jehovah's Horn of deliverance came out in dispossessing the unclean demon that was in the synagogue, so that the man might be found in conditions suitable to the holiness of God and the service of God. Then Simon's mother-in-law was incapable of service manward by reason of fever; and the application of grace to her set her in perfect liberty for service manward; she stood up and served them. The two incidents largely characterise the gospel of Luke. God has introduced a Person who in the application of His grace is capable of delivering men from everything that incapacitated them for service Godward and manward. A great many people want deliverance; the secret of it is a Person, and that Person is fully available for us. All that is in Him as power is as much available for us in our moral weaknesses and necessities as it was physically for the people that came in contact with Him in the days of His flesh. We have to go to the gospels to learn the character of the Person of whom the epistles speak. The
doctrine is unfolded in the epistles, but for the substance we must go to the gospels. The substance and power of deliverance are in the Person of Christ.
Chapter 4 ends with a reference to "the glad tidings of the kingdom of God". The kingdom of God is something quite new; we cannot read anything about it in the Old Testament save prophetically; the thing itself was not there. The New Testament opens with the statement that it was at hand, drawing near. There never was such a joyful kingdom as the kingdom of God; its character is set forth in "new wine" -- wine richer and more precious than any wine known on earth; it is indeed "good wine". It was said of the men at Pentecost, in derision, that they were "full of new wine", but it was true spiritually; many a true word is spoken in derision. The Lord wants every one of us to be full of new wine. He came into this world to secure it, and Luke 5 shows how He secures vessels to contain and preserve the precious grace which He has brought here from heaven.
The coming of the Lord in this gospel is to secure three things; glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good pleasure in men. That is what God desires and He started out to secure it by bringing in one Man in whom He has completely found good pleasure. God is working to bind us up in our affections completely and effectually with that one Man so that we may become objects of pleasure to His heart -- that He may have pleasure in us as He has in Christ. In chapter 4 we have one beautiful Vessel capable of bringing down to men in this world all the grace of heaven -- all the grace of the heart of God. In chapter 5 we have presented a number of vessels all made suitable to hold the new wine -- all filled out of the one beautiful Vessel. That gives a wonderful idea of the kingdom of God.
At the beginning of this chapter they press on Him to hear the word of God. But we find that preaching and hearing are not sufficient; there must be a work of God in the souls of men to bring about the formation of new vessels. That is what we see illustrated here. The Lord preached and people
heard, but, in addition to that, a work of God was accomplished in the soul of Simon Peter -- a sovereign movement which was, no doubt, figured in the number of fish brought into Simon's net. A movement under the surface brought all these fish into Simon's net. It was a sovereign movement of God, for there were no fish there before; they had tried all night and caught nothing. The thought is suggested that God was going to work in the souls of men so that there should be something taken out of the mass of mankind for His pleasure.
The first element in the formation of a new vessel is conviction of sin. It was a new kind of conviction of sin which no sinner who ever lived in this world had had before. No man had ever before been convicted of sin in the presence of Jesus, and that made all the difference. He fell at Jesus' knees, because along with conviction of sin there was a mighty power of attraction. Now it is attraction that holds people; conviction of sin is the net in which God catches people, but, it says, "their net broke". It could not hold what was caught. Their "net" represented what they were conversant with; that is, the ministry of the law and the prophets. That might convict people but it would not hold them for God; there was no power of attraction in the law and prophets -- no inherent power to hold men for God -- but there is a power of attraction about Jesus which will hold men for God. That is the kind of conviction of sin that belongs to Christianity; men are convicted deeply of sin, but the consciousness is brought into their souls of the marvellous power of attraction that there is in Jesus; that holds them for God. The old divines used to talk about the difference between legal repentance and gospel repentance, and there was a good deal in it. Suppose a man stood under mount Sinai with its thunder and lightnings, and heard the terrible words, "die without mercy" -- that man might be convicted of sin in terror, but that is not the kind of conviction of sin that God gives to men today. A man might realise that he was, as it were, standing over the pit of hell and ready to drop in in a minute, but that is not the kind of conviction that God gives people today. There is a new kind of conviction of sin which belongs to the kingdom of God, the new system of divine grace. In chapter 4 Jesus is the Preacher and the Deliverer, but in chapter 5 He is the Bridegroom. In the end of chapter 5, when the Pharisees asked Him why His disciples ate and drank while the disciples of John fasted,
He answered, The bridegroom is here, everything is new now. Even conviction of sin has a new character, different from what any one had before. Simon Peter fell down, but it was at Jesus' knees. He was as near to Him as he could get; the power of attraction was great in His heart. That is the kind of conviction of sin that God gives people now; they feel their utter unfitness for Jesus and for God, but at the same time they are filled with the sense of how exceedingly suitable Jesus is for them.
The gospel of Luke is the divine disclosure of the personal charm of Jesus, the heavenly Bridegroom. "The charm of a man is his kindness", Proverbs 19:22. There is no more beautiful word in Scripture, and we might say that it describes Luke's gospel. Here is a man so convicted that as to his own consciousness there is not a spot of anything in him but sin; he is a sinful man; and yet he is attracted by the divine charm of kindness in Jesus, so as to be drawn to His very knees. That is the first element in the formation of new bottles. There is the deepest conviction of our own unfitness and sin but there is no discouragement or remorse in it because we learn it in the presence of the personal charm of Jesus -- the attractiveness of the Bridegroom. Repentance and remission of sins are to be preached in His Name -- that is the end of Luke -- we are to set forth repentance and remission of sins in all the personal charm of the Name of Jesus. It makes us love God when we know that is the way He has taken, to know that He has brought in such a wonderful Person. I do not wonder that these people were astonished; there was only astonishment left in their hearts. Think of the charm about One who was personally delightful to God as His beloved Son; we see His charm in that character in chapter 3. Then we see in chapter 4 the charm of One who was untouchable by the devil, and the charm of the anointed Preacher who could fully set forth the grace of God to men, and then the charm of the Deliverer who can relieve us of every power of evil and every infirmity. Now in chapter 5 we see the charm of His kindness to a man convicted of sin. Then the Lord says to him, "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men" -- He takes Simon into partnership. One like that is qualified to catch men, because he can present something very attractive; he can speak of the charm of Jesus. If we knew that charm better we should use it more on others.
This chapter puts together for us carefully and methodically the different elements that go to make up new bottles. The first new element is conviction of sin in the presence of Jesus. But this does not do all that is needed; it awakens the necessity in the soul for a divine cleansing, not merely what will satisfy our consciences, but what will make us suitable to God. We have now a new kind of cleansing. There had never been a man before to whom a leper could come and say, "Thou canst make me clean", but this leper comes and says to Jesus, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean". What an apprehension he had of a new order of things -- a Man on earth able to cleanse lepers so that they should be fit to approach God!
This leper says, "Lord, if thou wilt". What a beautiful spirit that is! He had learnt what the men in the synagogue of Nazareth refused; they refused divine sovereignty, but this man had learnt to submit to it as the way of blessing. If we submit to divine sovereignty we find it ten thousand times more favourable to us than we ever thought. It is God's sovereign pleasure to bring about a cleansing that is perfectly suitable to Himself. That is what God proposes; not simply to cleanse us so that we can get into heaven without a charge and have some lone seat within the door, but to make us as fit to be presented before Him as ever any holy angel was, and even more than that, for it is a cleansing that could only be brought about by the death of Jesus. Could there ever be anything more wonderful than that? Jesus effects cleansing for us through His own death. It was in the death of Jesus that He really and sacrificially touched the leper. It was the pleasure of God to cleanse us so effectively that not the keenest priestly vision -- not even His own holy eye -- could detect a single trace of leprosy; all pollution is completely gone. The Lord went to the cross to do that. The charm of His kindness alone would not meet the case, He has identified Himself with our sinful state; He has touched us; He has been made sin for us. Such is the value of the death of Christ that for us who believe on Him there is not a trace of defilement left under the eye of God. "I will: be thou clean" is the word of the cross. That word rings down through the ages from Calvary. "I will: be thou clean" is a new kind of cleansing altogether; it is not merely ceremonial cleansing such as an Israelite might have by observing the rites and ordinances of
the law. It is a new kind of cleansing which makes us spotless in the presence of the holiness of God, all secured by the death of Jesus.
Then the Lord said to him, "Go, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing as Moses ordained". Think of this man taking his two birds, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop, and his lambs and fine flour and oil as presented in Leviticus 14, and going to the priest! Everything that he offered speaks to us of the Person who cleansed him. What instruction there is in the things which he offered! The two birds, one killed and the other dipped in the blood of the dead bird and let loose in the open field, speak of Christ going into death and coming out in resurrection. Then the cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop declare the greatness and glory of Christ as Man. The cedar wood speaks of His excellent bearing, the scarlet of the glory of man as seen in Christ, and the hyssop suggests the lowliness of the One who came down to the lowest point to meet sinful men. The leper had in type all that before him; it should fill our souls with adoring thoughts of Christ. We can look at it and say, All that is for me; it is in the value of that holy Person going into death that I am cleansed; my soul is in adoring liberty in presence of the perfection of Christ, who went into death to secure my cleansing according to divine holiness and to set me up in the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is not a question of what I need to relieve my conscience, but of the marvellous character of the cleansing that has come in by God's Son having become a Man, presenting in Himself every feature of human excellence and perfection, and giving it all in death, so that in the excellence and virtue of that I am cleansed. It is not only a negative removal, but the bringing in of the blessed perfection of Christ so that we are set free to offer Christ before God.
The cleansed leper went away with the blood on his ear, thumb and great toe. Think of his walking out into the world with the sense that he was to hear everything, do everything, and make every movement in the sense of the marvellous character of his cleansing! He was cleansed by a Person who came out of heaven, having every perfection that was suitable to God in a Man, but who went into death as a sacrifice for sin to secure a cleansing for sinful men that would leave them as spotless as He is in the presence of God. The cleansed leper had the blood on his ear, his thumb, and his toe, and he had
the oil on the blood, and then he had all the rest of the oil poured on his head. The cleansed leper had a dignity in Israel that attached to no other person save God's anointed priest and king. He went out as an anointed man.
This new kind of cleansing altogether surpasses any cleansing that men might have had in the Old Testament; it is a cleansing which can only be measured by the Person who effects it. Such is the value of the death of Christ that, if the full blaze of the light of God were to shine on the believer, not a single spot of sin would be discovered; he is cleansed.
There is a significant break in the chapter at verse 16: "And he withdrew himself and was about in the desert places praying". It seems to intimate the completion of what He had to do in connection with the exposure of sin and its cleansing. The exposure of man's state of sin and divine cleansing were not all that divine grace had in view, and the Lord withdrew Himself, I would suggest, to pray in regard of the further thoughts of God for men. It is deeply interesting to think of the blessed Son of God as entering into all the thoughts of grace, and praying that these thoughts might be fully secured in men. If there are to be new bottles for the new wine, there must not only be a new kind of conviction of sin and a new cleansing, but there must be a new power. Men are marked by weakness, but one of the great thoughts of God for men is that they should be characterised by power instead of total incapacity for good, so that men should be able to walk here to the glory of God.
We see in this section a paralysed man. It is not only true that we are sinful and need cleansing, but we are utterly incapacitated and without strength. This is another opportunity for divine grace to disclose itself. I do not think it is too much to say that the power which was present to heal, and in which the paralysed man stood up and walked, was the answer to the prayer of the Lord Jesus. There is not one of us here who has not felt the need of power, but suppose we start at the divine side. Long before I felt the need of power, Jesus felt it for me, and long before I prayed for power, He prayed for power for me. His praying brought the power of God into that house, and into that paralysed man. Power is always in answer to prayer, but let us not forget the prevailing efficacy of the prayers of Jesus. Whatever need I may become conscious of, I may be assured that there is not one of those needs that
the Lord Jesus has not felt and taken up in intercession for me. How it draws one's heart to Him!
We come, in figure, here to the gift of the Spirit; power lies in the gift of the Spirit. It is the thought of divine grace to set us up capacitated for good. Naturally we are marked by utter weakness for what is good, but the thought of divine grace is to set us up in power by the gift of the Spirit. Now the gift of the Spirit comes in answer to prayer: "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" And the Lord said to the woman of Samaria, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water". But, while taking account of that, let us not forget that the Spirit is given in answer to the prayer of the Lord Jesus, the blessed Son of God. He said, "I will beg the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, who shall be with you for ever". The gift of the Spirit is the answer to the prayer of Jesus, just as the power that came to this paralysed man was in answer to the prayer of Jesus. That is the Person we know through the infinite grace of God -- a living Person now in heaven who has prayed that we might have the Holy Spirit as power.
Power in the creature must be dependent power; God would never give power to the creature to make that creature independent of Himself. The Spirit as power is dependent power, and even the gift of the Spirit is seen to be in answer to prayer, which is the expression of dependence. The paralytic man was entirely dependent, because he came as brought by others; he was brought by men who had the faith of what was available. The whole case as taken up by Jesus and the men was marked by dependence. There was the prayer of Jesus and the faith of the men, and the result was that the man became energised and characterised by a power that was of God.
There is not a thought of God in grace in regard to me that the Lord Jesus has not taken up in an intercessory way with God, and it is on that ground that we get every blessing. That brings in a very attractive element; it makes the Lord Jesus attractive; we begin to see something of His character as Bridegroom. This chapter is leading us on by stages to the knowledge of Christ as Bridegroom, One who holds everything for God in the power of affection, and in a personal charm that
becomes attractive to everyone who comes to know Him. He is the great attractive centre of God's universe, and all this leads up to a company being secured who are "the sons of the bridechamber"; they find charm and satisfaction in the Bridegroom.
They were not conventional in the way they went about what they had in hand, but they got the man to Jesus, and that settled the whole thing. That is what we want; many of us may read our Bibles and pray, but do we get to Jesus? These men got the man to Jesus, though I dare say they shocked the doctors and Pharisees by the way they did it. There is always a way to Jesus round by the top. The Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by would represent the unprofitableness of the old legal system. They could only sit by as the priest and levite in chapter 10 passed by. Power comes in by Jesus and on the principle of faith and dependence.
The power of the Spirit is given so that the walk of the saints may be a living testimony to the disposition of God's heart towards men. It is not merely that we may have power to get through, but that there may be a testimony in this world to the forgiveness that is in the heart of God for men. The need has been fully felt by Jesus; none of us have sufficiently felt the need, but He has. The One who is our Lord, our Head, the Bridegroom, has felt the need, so He says, "Thy sins are forgiven thee". It is as much as to say, That is the great point in the testimony of God at the present moment. "Thy sins are forgiven" is God coming out in forgiveness. The rising up and walking of this man were to be a testimony to the fact that there was a Man on this earth making known the disposition of the heart of God in all its blessedness. God's heart was being uncovered to man, the guilty sinner. What was God doing? He was in Christ reconciling the world. There is forgiveness in the heart of God; in spite of all I have done His heart refuses to hold anything against me. The Lord seems to say, This question comes first; you must know the disposition of God's heart towards you. It is a wonderful moment when we learn the disposition of God's heart towards us. If we get a sense of it we shall understand that He will not leave us without power to walk for His glory. If He regards us so tenderly, if that has been His attitude and disposition, He will not leave us without power, but then He says, The power I give you is to be a
witness to the disposition of My heart. We do not think enough of the forgiveness of sins. People think of it as elementary, though we do not find it in Romans save in one quotation from the Psalms. But in Colossians and Ephesians we find it. That God is righteous in justifying is prominent in Romans, but forgiveness is the tender disposition of the heart of God. We do not find in Romans such a verse as "Be to one another kind, compassionate, forgiving one another, so as God also in Christ has forgiven you", Ephesians 4:32. I find forgiveness in the very heart of the blessed God. Forgiveness is the disposition of the heart of the person offended; it is how he feels. God glories in forgiveness; it was in His heart before it took form in Christ. The point here is not so much the meeting of man's need, but that the great heart of God must have an outlet. Our sins, our weakness, everything there is with us, are from the standpoint of Luke, opportunities valued by God and precious to Him because they give Him an opportunity of making Himself known to us in the marvellous fulness of His grace. It is not merely that I, the sinful creature, need God, but God needs me; He needs me in my sinfulness, my weakness, all my moral disorder as a fallen creature, in order to express in me the unsearchable riches of His own blessed grace. That is the presentation in this wonderful gospel.
God has introduced the charm of Jesus into this world -- a Person attractive with all the grace of heaven. He is the Bridegroom, the joy-giver; He fills with ineffable satisfaction and delight every heart that knows what it is to be drawn into companionship with Him. Now we see the same power of attraction exercised in the case of Levi the publican to give him an entirely new interest. Self-interest is the very centre of a man naturally, but a power of divine grace in Jesus came in to deliver Levi from self-interest and to give him a new interest centred in Jesus. So along with a new kind of conviction of sin, a new kind of cleansing, and a new power, we find a new interest brought in to govern us in every way.
The word to Levi was "Follow me". Jesus was, as the following verses show, the Bridegroom, the centre of interest and happiness. It is grace coming in to set men free from all self-interest, so that they may be attached in affection to a new centre and object. Many people are not marked by gross evil, but by the fact that their whole lives are governed by self-interest. That will not do for the kingdom of God; it
will not do as a feature of the new bottles. We find a new interest connected with Jesus as the Bridegroom. The Lord says, "Follow me".
Levi became a true Levite as having been drawn into the communion of grace; that is what characterises "sons of the bridechamber". It suggests a new interest which has superseded and displaced the self-interest that was there before. This new interest centres in Jesus as the Bridegroom. His interests and His joys become the interests of the sons of the bridechamber. Each of them has left his own interests to become identified with the interests of Another. This is as far as the figure takes us. We do not find the bride in the gospels. We have the friend of the Bridegroom, and virgins going forth to meet the Bridegroom, and the sons of the bride-chamber, but we do not see the bride. There cannot be a bridegroom without a bride, but the bride is hidden in the gospels; we do not see her.
The work of God as illustrated in this chapter culminates in men having a new interest connected with Jesus in the character of the Bridegroom. The title of Bridegroom sets Him forth as the Person who is the centre of interest and happiness. Whatever other interests the disciples may have had, they were all set aside by a new and commanding interest which centred in Jesus as the Bridegroom. Everything was there that was of grace and of God, and it had come in to be the source of unalloyed happiness. The Lord moved through a certain orbit when He was here, and all the grace of heaven shone out in Him. The sun is compared to a bridegroom in Psalm 19, and is no doubt a figure of Christ in that character. He is spoken of as rejoicing, and His joy was to bring in and express all the grace of heaven. We do not think enough of the profound joy that God has in His grace, but it has been fully known and expressed in a Man, in Jesus, and He calls us to Him that we may participate in it. The joy of God in forgiveness is far greater than our joy in being forgiven. It is a far greater joy to God to cleanse us in all the efficacy of the death of Jesus than it is for us to be cleansed. It is a greater joy to God to set us up in the power of the Spirit than it is for us to have the power. The joy of God in grace is set forth in the Bridegroom, and He would have us as His companions in the joy of grace. This is the new interest that belongs to the kingdom of God.
Levi answered to the call of Jesus, and he made an entertainment for Jesus -- not for the tax-gatherers and sinners. He ministered to the joy of grace in the heart of Jesus; that became his new interest. He knew the kind of company that would give joy to the One who was setting forth God as supreme grace. That the tax-gatherers and sinners who came in enjoyed the feast is certain; but Levi made the great entertainment for Jesus; he knew that He would like it. He was a true son of the bridechamber. He had great appreciation of the divine joy which was set forth in Jesus, and it had become his new interest. Do we really know the charm of Jesus in this way? He has called us by His own attractiveness away from self-interest to be dominated and characterised by an entirely new interest. Is it true that Jesus has become the Centre of interest to us? He has brought all the grace of heaven for men. Have we apprehended and understood it, and do we participate in the joy which He has in doing so? Then we can in the communion of grace think of the need around us, but in doing so we think of Him, of His joy in grace, and of how we can minister to it.
Paul speaks of himself as "carrying on as a sacrificial service the message of glad tidings of God, in order that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit". He says, as it were, I am going to bring them all in for the pleasure of God. That is what gives an entirely new interest that belongs to the kingdom of God. Everything takes a new character, so that what Levi had providentially became an opportunity for him to give expression to the grace of heaven. The chief use of money is that -- though in itself the mammon of unrighteousness -- it may be used in such a way as to give expression to the grace of heaven. It is the privilege of the saint to let his new interest be manifest first in his own house. The paralysed man was sent to his house that his new power might be first in evidence there, and Levi made a great entertainment for Jesus "in his house"; the new interest came out there in a very practical way.
We see here in this fourth incident a man in communion with the grace of heaven, fully furnished to meet need because in the sense of full supply as having understood the grace that was there in the Person of Jesus. He regarded everything from that standpoint, and brought his guests together to minister to the joy of the Bridegroom, not merely that they might be
blessed. It is more to the Lord that we should be near to Him and in communion with Him in that way than any service we could render. He has many angels He could send to do great things, but no angel knows the Communion of grace as those know it who have been sinful creatures; angels can look on and wonder at it, and learn their God in it, but they cannot be in the communion of grace as the sons of the bridechamber are. Levi saw a blessedness in Him that overpowered every bit of self-interest in his soul. His heart unfolded to the Bridegroom "as the rose to the golden sun". That is what I would like Jesus to be to me, an overpowering influence to displace every bit of self-interest. It is on that line that God is working.
The more we know the festivity of grace which has come in by Jesus as the Bridegroom, the more deeply we shall feel the state of a world which has rejected Him. Fasting comes in here, verse 35. It is not that the grace has diminished, but it has been rejected. The Bridegroom is taken away, so that feasting now is connected with heaven where He is accepted, and fasting with earth where He is still rejected.
Verses 35 - 39 contain what is probably the first of the Lord's parables. It impresses on us the entirely new character of what has come about by the presence of Jesus in this world. It suggests the divine pleasure to invest man with a garment which is altogether new and complete in itself, and which is of a different kind from anything that men ever wore before. The old garment represented all that was provided for men in Judaism under the old covenant. Men had been wearing that garment for fifteen hundred years, but God had said by the prophet Jeremiah that days would come when He would "consummate a new covenant as regards the house of Israel, and as regards the house of Judah", Hebrews 8:8. The comment of the Spirit of God upon this is, "In that he says, New, he has made the first old; but that which grows old and aged is near disappearing", Hebrews 8:13. The old garment did not meet man's case, for it did not bring in righteousness or salvation; we are told it made nothing perfect, and it did not disclose the mind and heart of God. God found fault with that old garment. The system of things with which God had been pleased to invest Israel -- the law and the sacrifices, and the order of service that belonged to the tabernacle and temple -- while it contained a shadow of good things to come,
did not bring the substance of anything. The new garment implies that God would set up man in an entirely new way before Him, and it is a complete unit to be taken in its entirety; we must not tear a piece out of it to add to the old. There is a new garment which is never going to be old; and which provides a complete and satisfactory covering for men, and satisfaction for God in the men who wear it. Something has been brought in of a different kind from anything proposed in the law. The coming of Jesus into manhood, His going into death, His going on high and giving the Spirit, result in an entirely new garment being provided, no part of which can be added on to the old one. To tear a piece out of the new garment is to spoil it, and it does not suit with the old. Present Christianity as we see it around us is very, largely Judaism with Christian terms imported into it; they have torn a piece out of the new garment, and tacked it on to the old, but it does not fit. No part of a system of things which does not recognise man in the flesh at all can be added to a system of things that was suited to man in the flesh.
There are two things in this parable -- the system as set forth in the new garment, and men of a new kind figured by new bottles. Neither the old covenant nor men in the flesh who were under it were satisfactory to God, so He has brought in an entirely new system of blessing, and secured man after a new kind to suit the system which He has brought in. Both the new garment and the new bottles give pleasure to God. It pleased God to invest Israel with everything connected with the old covenant so that things might be tested and that it might be brought to light whether such a system and such men as there under it could abide for the pleasure of God. It was demonstrated that they could not so abide, and the system had to be set aside for the weakness and unprofitableness of it. The epistle to the Hebrews tells us it was weak and unprofitable, and that it did not make the comers thereto perfect. It did not bring in perfection for men or pleasure for God. So God had to speak of something new, and that implied the discarding of the old. Now there is a new garment. God has brought in what is connected with the revelation of Himself in grace in His beloved Son, and the perfect work of the cross, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to men, and He would invest men with the knowledge of this.
The scribes and Pharisees were wearing the old garment,
and though they were able in measure to understand the fasting of the disciples of John, they did not at all appreciate that by the coming in of Jesus there was a new garment and new wine; they were not able to understand the unmixed joy which characterised the disciples of Jesus as sons of the bride-chamber. The Bridegroom being here, everything was new and of a changed character. There was a new garment, new wine, and new bottles. The Lord says, as it were, You are going on with what is old, with a system of things which for God is past, but I and My disciples are in the joy of what is new and for the pleasure of God. The new wine is the joy of God in His grace communicated by the Spirit to the heart of the believer.
The great truth of the gospel is that God needs man. There is no gospel in saying that man needs God, but to know and be able to say that God needs man is glad tidings. God must have men to display upon them the exceeding riches of His grace in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Man's state is God's opportunity to come out in the wealth of the grace of His heart, and pour Himself out in immeasurable blessing. He finds joy in doing it. The knowledge of that in the heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit is the new wine. We are told in Acts 13 that the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. Paul says, "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" -- that is new wine. Luke brings out in a very blessed and attractive way that God has lost what is of great value to Him and He must have it back. God would make Himself known in His thoughts, His heart, and His disposition of grace. It was a necessity to God to make Himself known in grace, and man, a sinful creature, was needed in order that He might do so. People often ask, Why did God allow sin to come into the world? He did so because only in relation to a sinful creature could He disclose the marvellous depth, riches and fulness of His great grace and the love of His heart.
It needed the Son of God to come from heaven to tell us that God needs man. In Luke 15 we have the shepherd, the woman and the father -- it is God seeking man. Think of the light and blessedness of all this being available to every one of us! It is noticeable that this gospel is addressed to one man, It is as much as to say that God is prepared to confer all that is disclosed in this gospel on one individual; it is open to
every one of us to take this gospel of Luke in all its fulness as personally addressed to us by the blessed God, that we may know Him in grace. He makes no demand; He bestows everything; He confers on men everything that they need, and everything that will disclose what He is in grace. As to the pollution that belongs to man as sinful, God has met it through the efficacy of one sacrifice for sin that has completely and for ever removed it from before Him. Sin in the flesh has been condemned in the death of God's Son; purgation and cleansing have been effected in all the value and power of the death of Christ. Believers are now in the light of that; it is what God Himself has brought in; we are perfected for ever in the value of the work of Christ. That is the character of the system we belong to: there is perfect revelation of God in grace, perfect cleansing from sin, and also power conferred by the Spirit. God's ways are characterised now by the ministry of righteousness and the Spirit. The old system served out death and condemnation, but the new system serves out righteousness and life. It is impossible to mix the two; one is a system of demand and the other a system of supply.
The last clause of the chapter is a solemn reminder of how easy it is to lose the taste for what is new. If I drink old wine, I shall lose my appreciation for what is new. If I read an interesting book of the world and get absorbed in it, because it appeals to my natural likes and tendencies, I find it diminishes my power to appreciate what is new. I desire to maintain in my soul appreciation of the new, and I believe that is more to God than any service I can render. Old wine belongs to the old system. How soon the Galatians were turned aside from the new wine to the old! They had been connected with the new system of heavenly grace and had known the new wine, at any rate in some measure, for Paul referred to their "blessedness". But they had become occupied with circumcision and law-keeping and observance of days and all those things that were really connected with man in the flesh. They drank old wine and liked it and for the time lost their taste for the new. Satan works that way, not exactly to bring in what is sinful or that might give us a bad conscience, but to turn us back to what is really "old". The whole system of current Christianity is marked by what is old and, if people go in for it, they cannot enjoy what is new. Music at religious services is brought in, not because it pleases God but because it appeals to and pleases
men; it has the character of old wine; it belongs to a system that God has discarded. Many things in the Old Testament were introduced because God was putting to the test whether things adapted to man in the flesh could bring about what pleased Him, but they entirely failed to do so. If people go in for those things, one cannot expect them to have much taste for new wine. At the present time the religious world is largely laying itself out to provide something that will attract and be agreeable to man as after the flesh -- things often borrowed from the Old Testament without any idea of their spiritual import. We must cultivate acquaintance with what is new -- the whole system of heavenly grace which centres in Christ as the heavenly and glorified Man, and which subsists in the value of His death, and is known in the heart of the believer by the gift of the Spirit.
The new wine requires new bottles, which do not represent the system but the persons who stand connected with it. There must be a new kind of person to appreciate divine grace and to be a vessel to hold the joy of that grace. Luke 5 shows the features which characterise new bottles; they are marked by four features -- a new kind of conviction of sin, a new kind of cleansing, a new power, and a new interest. These things put together give us the moral features of a new kind of man, and in result there are suitable vessels to contain and preserve the new wine. If we are not supremely happy there is a reason for it. Old wine gratifies the flesh, but self-gratification and happiness are two quite different things. Old wine represents legal principles, but what is proposed in Luke's gospel is that God's joy in grace should be a spring of joy in our heart perpetually by the Spirit; then there will be new wine in new bottles.
There is profound blessing in seeking to enter into the thoughts of the Lord as He went through the cornfields. Every ear of corn in those fields had sprung up out of death to be God's bountiful provision for men, and the particular sabbath mentioned in the first verse of our chapter had a significance peculiar to itself. It is called here the "second-first" sabbath.
The first sabbath was the sabbath of the Passover, the second-first was the one immediately following the waving of the sheaf of firstfruits (Leviticus 23); it was the first of the seven sabbaths which were to he counted until the feast of weeks. What it must have brought before the Lord's heart! He knew perfectly all that was set forth in the type of the first-fruits; it spoke to Him of God's great provision in grace which would be set free as the result of His own resurrection. Every thought of grace in the heart of God is now set free on that ground. He had, too, a very different thought of the sabbath from that which the Pharisees had. They had made the sabbath a day of bondage and restriction; the thought of rest and refreshment and liberty, a day hallowed for God as the One who had secured rest for Himself and who delighted to have men to share His rest, was far from their minds. But we have seen what the Lord connected with the sabbath in chapter 4 when He stood up to read and to preach in the synagogue at Nazareth. "The Son of man is Lord of the sabbath also"; this gives it its true character according to the mind and heart of God.
The disciples, following upon what was true of them as sons of the bridechamber, and as new bottles filled with new wine, are seen here in the liberty of grace. "His disciples were plucking the ears and eating them, rubbing them in their hands". They were freely appropriating the goodness of God which was available, just as He would have us to do, but this displeased the Pharisees. It raised the whole question of the sabbath, and whether it was designed to give men a legal righteousness by keeping it, or whether it spoke of God's delight in giving rest and blessing. Was the sabbath to be merely an ordinance for man in the flesh, and thus part of the old garment, or was it to be understood in the light of God revealed in grace? There will be no true sabbath until men rest in the known grace of God. The Son of man is Lord of the sabbath; He exercises the rights of God in grace, and brings in a true sabbath of rest for men.
The religious man can never understand the liberty of grace, so some of the Pharisees challenged the disciples as to why they did what was not lawful to do on the sabbath. But the Lord answered for His disciples by reminding the objectors that there was at least one instance in which a hungry man had done what was not lawful under the legal system without incurring blame for it. David was, in a remarkable way, in
the secret of divine grace. The loaves of shewbread represented all Israel as in favour before God; it was His thought that they should all be before Him as identified with Christ, and indeed as having Christ as their life. If this Was so it was a matter of pure grace, and this justified David in saying, "The bread is in a manner common", 1 Samuel 21:5. Though it was "holy bread", it was "common" in the sense that it was available for men that were needy, and whose vessels were holy. The bread of God's house is always available for faith, and wherever there is faith there will always be, in some measure, suitable moral conditions. There will be true repentance, and an appreciation of grace on God's part, and these are holy conditions. The provisions of His grace may always be freely appropriated by those whose vessels are holy as being marked by these conditions.
What a cluster of divine teaching is here -- the cornfields, the sabbath, the shewbread! All belong in their true significance to the new system. Each had to be seen as having Christ in view, and not man in the flesh. God's thought has ever been that man should be blessed through Christ and in Christ, and even the power to appropriate this is of God, as we see in the next incident.
On another sabbath the Lord entered into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. Such a one had no power to appropriate; he could not pluck the ears of corn or rub them, The scribes and Pharisees would have kept him in that state; they were jealous for the sabbath, but they hated the grace of which the sabbath was the covenant-token. How manifest it was that the old bottles could not hold the new wine! But Jesus knew their thoughts, and He was minded to convict them publicly; He called the man into the midst that He might demonstrate before all the rights of God in mercy. But there was no room for God in their system; if He came in in mercy it broke up the whole system as it was in their minds. If Judaism was to be preserved God must be shut out; what a terrible thing to contemplate! It shows how old and unrepairable the old garment was. It had become a system that looked with suspicion and hatred on the actings of God in mercy.
The test for this poor man was, would he be governed by the word of Christ? Had he been subdued to Him as Lord, to the One who had come from God with divine authority?
When Jesus said, "Stretch out thy hand", would he obey? There will be no power with any of us to appropriate what is of God save as there is a spirit of subjection. When souls do not get the good of what God has provided in His grace it is because they are not really subject. This is the secret of most of our difficulties and weaknesses. But the work of God in this man showed itself by immediate obedience, and his hand was restored as the other. Where there is inability to lay hold of God's precious things, it will generally be found that the Lord has spoken, but His word has not been obeyed.
The scribes and Pharisees were unsubdued; they were filled with madness. The things of the kingdom of God are new things, dependent on God being known in grace, and those who would in self-righteous pride maintain the old things become definitely hostile to the new. The breach between the old and the new was complete.
It was "in those days that he went out into the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God", verse 12. It was, as we should say, a crisis. What was the mind of God at such a moment? What form would He have things to take in presence of manifested enmity to grace? It was clear that the system that then was could not hold the new wine that was coming in. There must be a new administration set up in the world, something quite different from the law and the prophets. This great matter became the matter of prolonged prayer. We might truly say that the whole dispensation of grace, and the form which it would take, were the subject of that night of prayer. The order of the dispensation, with all its gracious power, is the answer to the prayer of Jesus. It is one great characterising feature of Christianity as set up in the world that the Lord's authority in grace has been connected with the apostles whom He chose after this wondrous night of prayer. His choice of them was a matter of His own sovereignty, but it was a sovereignty exercised in complete dependence upon God. The Lord has set up a system in which His apostles have a very distinctive place. They are, as Jude says, "the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ", and Peter calls them "your apostles", 2 Peter 3:2. They are not named apostles in Luke 6 in relation to their place in the assembly, but in relation to the kingdom of God as the sphere of divine authority in grace. These men were qualified to speak with authority as sent apostles of the Lord. Their names are in the twelve
foundations of the holy city Jerusalem; they were chosen for suffering as the apostles of the Lamb.
"Judas Iscariote, who was also his betrayer" being numbered amongst them would indicate that the kingdom was intended to be a place of testing, and that it would not be enough to have an outward place in it, even that of an apostle. It suggests, too, that there would be the possibility of failure being manifested in the public administration of the grace of God; even for apostles, security would lie in prayer. We may be sure that the Lord spending the night in prayer would never be forgotten by those who loved Him; it was a model which they would know well must be imitated if they were to be sustained in the wondrous position and office to which He had appointed them. On the other hand we may be certain that Judas was not a man of prayer; I doubt if he ever prayed at all.
The Lord descended with the apostles and stood on a level place, verse 17. He had prayed on the mountain and chosen the twelve, and then He and they came down to bring the power of divine healing to men below. They came down from His own elevation with God, yet, withal, an elevation marked by perfect dependence; and on the level place they find "a great multitude of the people from all Judaea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases", and we are told that "power went out from him and healed all". We can hardly fail to see in this multitude, including some from even Gentile cities, a figure of that vast throng to whom spiritual healing would be brought through the great administration of grace for which He had chosen His apostles. There was, indeed, power in Him for the healing of all, and it seems to me that the Lord brings out the character of those who are spiritually healed in what He says to His disciples as recorded in the verses that follow, for the moral features set forth in Luke 6:20 - 49 could only be the result of divine healing. Men of this type can only be seen on earth as the result of the healing virtue of the kingdom of God brought to them in Jesus. There is a moral connection between that spoken of here and the appropriation of divine grace in liberty as seen in figure in the cornfields at the beginning of the chapter. All that the Lord says here supposes that grace is revealed and known and has become the formative principle of a new kind of man who is patterned after God as known in grace.
"And he, lifting up his eyes upon his disciples, said, Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God", verse 20. The Lord addresses His disciples here as having the character spoken of; it is not an abstract statement that the poor are blessed, but "blessed are ye poor". He could lift up His eyes upon them with complacency as finding delight in them; they were those of whom He had said prophetically, "In them is all my delight", Psalm 16:3. Do we long to be such as He can admire F! Then we must be content to be poor in all that the world esteems valuable. The "rich" have received their consolation (verse 24) in a perishing system of things, but it is infinitely better to be "poor" as to these things but to have the kingdom of God. How can any lover of God find consolation in things in which God has no place? The disciples as seen here were new bottles filled with new wine, and they could afford to be poor in relation to the scene where the grace of God was unknown. In the very nature of things we cannot have the two kinds of wealth. Those who do not know God have their resources and gratifications and joys in this world, and they think it strange that there should be any who prefer to be destitute of the things which they count to be happiness. Indeed, to stand apart from all that is thought well of in the world "for the Son of man's sake" is quite sufficient to provoke contempt and hatred. But the Lord accounts "blessed" those who are poor in the sense that they stand apart from what the world counts advantageous, and who are content rather to be deprived and to sorrow in a world where the Son of man is rejected and put to shame. Those are truly "blessed" in whom the Son of man can see some of His own features appearing, to be despised and rejected even as they were when seen in Himself.
Then from verse 27 there is another part of the Lord's discourse addressed to "to you that hear". This section contemplates a further development of the work of grace in the disciples, resulting in their becoming manifest as "sons of the Highest". The Highest is a title of God more often used by Luke that by any other New Testament writer, and as used by him it has a particular connection with what God is as made known in grace. He is so high that He is far above the unthankfulness and wickedness of men; He is good to them in spite of what they are. Now the Lord has in mind that His disciples shall be "sons of the Highest"; they are to be
like God in His blessed superiority to what is evil in men. One can understand that this is not presented by the Lord as something fully realised in them. His words in this connection are addressed "to you that hear"; they are intended for persons whose hearts are spiritually attentive. There can be no greater or more wondrous proposal than that we should come out as giving expression to God's character in presence of the evil that is here. God will bring out His sons in glory very soon, and they will be all like Him then (Romans 8:19), but He would have them to be manifested morally as acting like Him even now when things are so contrary.
It is well to bear in mind that we have proved in our own experience that this is God's character, for it is how He has acted towards us. He has loved us when we hated Him; He has continually done us good even at a time when we were unthankful and wicked; He has been merciful and has remitted our sins; He has been ready to give when we asked Him. It is only a matter of righteousness that we should act towards others in the grace which has been shown to ourselves. God will have His sons like Himself, and He will see that they are fully recompensed for any cost that is involved on their part. May we be amongst those who hear these words of grace! We do not really appreciate grace beyond the measure in which we express it, so that this chapter pulls us up with a challenge as to how far our souls have been penetrated and permeated by the power of grace. In hearing what the Lord says we acquire an ever deepening sense of what grace really is. Most of us are small in grace; we need to grow in it as Peter exhorts us to do. It is something very strange to our hearts naturally, but as disciples of Christ, hearing His words, we are learning it with a view to its coming out in us.
The last section of the Lord's discourse begins with the parable of verse 39, "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Shall not both fall into the ditch?" It raises the question with every professed disciple of Jesus whether he can see where he is going. It is to be feared that many are content to be led without any exercise or discrimination of their own. They take for granted that what their parents did is right for them to do; or that religious institutions which have been set up for hundreds of years must be a safe guide; or that what so many learned men think right must be right. But this is really spiritual blindness, and unless I can see myself I have
no means of knowing whether the one who is leading me is blind or not. The only way to be safe is to have spiritual vision oneself; blind people will be sure to get into the ditch.
There is no blind leading or following in the new order of things instituted by the Lord, but the principle of teaching and discipleship has a permanent place in it. "The disciple is not above his teacher, but every one that is perfected shall be as his teacher", verse 40. Intelligence comes on the line of discipleship, and this is not a blind leading but divine instruction coming to us from One who is at the full elevation of God's thoughts, and under whose teaching it is possible for us to be "perfected". Under the teaching of Christ there is no uncertainty; no one who comes into subjection to His teaching ever has a doubt whether it is of God or not. And it is the teaching of One who was the exemplification of all that He taught, so that to be perfected under His teaching is to become like Him. There is no blind leading blind in this, but One who knows perfectly the mind of God imparting it to others who can see clearly as taught by Him.
Not that all are "perfected", for many lessons come on the way to this, and we have to find that there are "motes" and "beams" which dim our vision, and which have to be cast out even after we have sight. And the Lord points out that we are apt to lose time by seeing a "mote" in the eye of our brother when we cannot perceive a "beam" in our own. It suggests plainly that every one who is concerned about his brother not seeing well had better give attention to something much nearer home. There is more hypocrisy than we think in our quickness to discern the spiritual defects in others; the Lord would warn us off from that most unprofitable occupation.
"For there is no good tree which produces corrupt fruit, nor a corrupt tree which produces good fruit; for every tree is known by its own fruit, for figs are not gathered from thorns, nor grapes vintaged from a bramble", verses 43, 44. The Lord does not contemplate a mixed product; each one is either a "good man" or a "wicked man", verse 45. Scripture does not acknowledge any third class who are neither good nor wicked. Those who have turned to God in repentance, confiding in Him as the alone Source of good, are good, and they bring forth good fruit. The knowledge of God in the heart of man is never fruitless; it invariably produces fruit of its own kind. "The good man, out of the good treasure of his
heart, brings forth good". His heart is stored with the good that he has found in God, and he brings forth good out of what his heart treasures. The heart of the natural man is full of vain things in which God has no place; all such things are "wicked", however amiable they may appear to be, for nothing could be more wicked than for an intelligent creature to have a heart in which there is no place for God. All that such a heart can yield is corrupted by the terrible fact that the only One who is really good has no place in it; it is far alienated from the true and only Good. But the "good man" has learned his own sinfulness, and has turned to God and found that God is good enough to pardon and cleanse him, and to purify his heart through faith, and to set him up in freedom from sin's dominion, so that he now makes his boast in God, and knows no good save what has its source in God.
When the good that is in God becomes the treasure of a man's heart it is bound to produce good in what the man says and in what he does. It really makes him a "good man", for the element of corruption has been counteracted, in a practical sense, by the good that he has found in God. He is recovered to good by being recovered to God, and the works of the devil are undone in him. It is immensely important to open our hearts to the knowledge of God that comes to us in the Lord Jesus; it is enriching, gladdening, purifying; as our hearts are filled with it we become "good". Paul could say to the Roman believers, "But I am persuaded, my brethren, I myself also, concerning you, that yourselves also are full of goodness", Romans 15:14. What a contrast is this from what he had said in chapter 3 of the same epistle. "There is not one that practises goodness, there is not so much as one"! The latter Scripture shows what we were when grace found us, but the former shows what grace makes us.
Finally the Lord says, "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?" A mere lip acknowledgement is nothing to the Lord, nor is it of any value to the one who makes it. It is in doing what the Lord says that we secure a good foundation for our building, for it is evidence that we really believe on Him. If His words have no authority Over us In a practical way we only deceive ourselves by calling Him Lord. The real test which marks us off as true disciples is that through much exercise we do what the Lord says. It is in this way that we commit ourselves to Him definitely; it
involves a break with the whole manner of life which characterised us previously, and which characterises most of those who are around us. We ally ourselves with the most unpopular cause that ever was in this world, but which is the only security against impending ruin. The man who builds a house upon the ground without foundation undoubtedly takes the easiest course, but he is very imprudent. It is easier to be a nominal Christian, with just enough profession to give one respectability, than it is to steadily set oneself to do what the Lord says. The latter requires deep digging, and getting down to the rock. Nothing will stand the impact of the coming storm but what is built on the principle of obedience to Christ. We do not truly believe on Him if we do not do what He says. It is certain that this will involve an immense amount of exercise, continuous exercise, but this is precisely what is meant by digging and going deep. One little thing done in obedience to Christ, which we never should have done according to the flesh, and which cost us something to do, will give us more stability than listening to sermons all our life without our practice being affected. But the life of discipleship does not mean one thing done on that principle, but the whole life built up on it because the One whose words we do has acquired supremacy in our hearts. Nothing less than this is true Christianity.
Simeon had said with the holy Child in his arms that he would be "a light for revelation of the Gentiles", chapter 2: 32, and we see this fulfilled in the centurion. A Gentile was brought to light by the presence of Jesus in Capernaum as distinguished by a greater faith than He had found in Israel. One can understand the peculiar delight that Luke would have in writing this incident, as being himself a Gentile and writing to a Gentile. The centurion was one of the firstfruits of a great Gentile harvest for God, and the presence of Jesus in the city brought him to light. It is well to mark his character, as showing the kind of material which God would secure for Himself from the Gentile world. He had no selfish object in view, for it was an affectionate interest in his bondman that
moved him to send to Jesus. Though consciously unworthy he felt assured that he could count upon the kindly interest as well as the divine power of the wondrous Person of whom he had heard. It is remarkable how he measures the Lord Jesus, if we may so say, by what was true of himself. He assumed that Jesus, though so great, would have as much interest in his poor bondman as he had himself. And he most strikingly compared the Lord's authority with his own in verses 7 and 8. All this was not presumption, for he was manifestly unworthy in his own sight to have any direct dealings with Jesus. It was such a blessed reasoning of faith that it called forth wonder on the part of Jesus.
We see a Gentile here in whom the knowledge of God was an active principle, for the elders of the Jews could say, "He loves our nation and himself has built the synagogue for us". So that he evidently loved the Jews because of their relation to God; he would favour that relation as much as he could, It is fine evidence that faith is operating in the soul when there is love to the people of God, and desire that they may prosper spiritually. But the centurion would not allow that he had any worthiness either to come to Jesus or to receive Him under his roof. The only ground of his confidence or his expectation was what Jesus was in Himself, and his apprehension of this was truly wonderful. He says, "But say by a word and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having under myself soldiers, and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my bondman, Do this, and he does it". It was not only that he recognised that Jesus was able to heal his servant, but that he was acting under authority in what He did. He was acting in pure and perfect grace as under the authority of God. The centurion did not think, as many do, that Jesus was kind, but that God was not so favourable. He traced all that he had heard of in Jesus to the fact that He was acting under the authority of God, and therefore it was as easy for Jesus to give a word of command as it was for him. He knew that all the power of Caesar was behind every command that he gave, and all the power and authority of God was behind every word of Jesus. He had not the slightest hesitation or uncertainty about it. Now that is faith. "And Jesus hearing this wondered at him, and turning to the crowd following him said, I say to you, Not even in Israel have I
found so great faith". The centurion was a "good man" because his heart was stored with the goodness which he had apprehended in the blessed God, which was coming into expression in a Man who was acting here under God's authority.
In the next incident we see Jesus as the glory of His people Israel, for the widow of Nain represents the nation as bereaved of all hope, but finding in her desolation that there was One who could bring back her son from the gates of death. In this incident we see the compassion of God expressed in Jesus in circumstances where all was utterly hopeless on the human side. A widow bereft of her only son! What could be more pathetic? Such an occasion would move human sympathy almost everywhere, so we find here that "a very considerable crowd of the city was with her". But how helpless they all were! He was dead, and they could only carry him out. Every citizen of Nain up to that time had had to succumb to the power of death. But One greater than death drew near that day to the city gate, and met the burial procession. No one called upon Him to intervene; He had not as yet, so far as we know, exercised His power in the domain of death. It might well have been that no one in the crowds had the slightest hope that He could do anything when death had actually taken place. It was a case in which the initiative could only be with Himself. But He was here as God's representative, and, as Peter told a Gentile congregation later, "God was with him". How would God act in the presence of a heart desolated by the ravages of death? "And the Lord, seeing her, was moved with compassion for her, and said to her, Weep not; and coming up he touched the bier, and the bearers stopped. And he said, Youth, I say to thee, Wake up. And the dead sat up and began to speak; and he gave him to his mother", Sin has let loose a flood of sorrow upon human hearts, and this is no small part of what is under the eye of God in the world. Indeed, I have no doubt that the sorrows which sin has entailed upon mankind are much greater in volume than "all the pleasures of sin". We are apt to think that the ambitions of men, and their lust for gain and self-gratification, and their pride and vanity, are more prominent than their sorrows. They are, perhaps, in a public way, but, if the true secret history of every human heart were written, I believe it would be found that disappointment and sorrow are in greater bulk, and have been more really felt than anything else. And the
greatest sorrow of all is the sorrow of death, for it desolates everything. I am not, for the moment, speaking of death as being on ourselves, but as breaking in on our happiness by its power over others. The dearest natural tie must be broken; the most valued friend is snatched away; the one on whom our fondest hopes have been built lies in the silent grave. Now is it not an immense thing to know that God feels and cares for the sorrows of His creatures? He has compassion, notwithstanding that sin and rebellion are the cause of it all. He would love to make Himself known to every sorrowing heart as He made Himself known to the bereaved widow of Nain, that is, as entering compassionately into the sorrow, and as having power to relieve the heart that is oppressed by it. I venture to say that the knowledge of God in this way, as we may learn Him in the incident before us, brings a greater relief to a sorrowing heart than would be brought about by any outward deliverance. We have learned something of the heart of God, and that is greater than having our dead back again, for it is an indestructible and eternal possession. The effect of seeing the widow's son brought back to life was that "fear seized on all, and they glorified God, saying, A great prophet has been raised up amongst us; and God has visited his people". They did not all have their dead sons raised up, but in seeing how He compassionated one bereaved widow they learned God as they had never known Him before. The incident remains here on the page of Scripture that we may learn God in the same way, and have infinite comfort in thus knowing Him.
But there was more than divine compassion in Jesus; there was power that could deal effectively with the might of death. Indeed, we know of no instance in which death was in His presence without being despoiled of its prey. God has thus shown that He can deal with death, and set aside its power, and free His creature from that which the creature dreads. If He can do it for one the thing is established; it is only a question of His wisdom as to when and how His power will effect it. He has met the power of death in a more wonderful way even than was seen at the gate of the city of Nain. I do not doubt that when Jesus "touched the bier" it was an intimation that He would come into personal contact with the power of death. He did this, as we know, at the cross; the full power of death came upon Him, not because He was
personally liable to death, but because He tasted it by the grace of God for all that had come under it as a result of sin. But death was not able to hold Him. He saw no corruption, and on the third day He rose triumphant. God has triumphed over death through Jesus; His victory has been gloriously seen in one Man, but it is seen there to be available for all who are in bondage through fear of death. Death is annulled in a risen Christ for all who believe on Him.
All these things are reported to John by his disciples, and John could not understand why he was left in prison if such wonderful things were being done. He felt it was time to remind the Lord that he was there, so he sent a message to Him: "Art thou he that is coming, or are we to Gait for another?" John had to learn, like many another, to accept his own ministry. He had said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30), but this became more testing than he had expected, and he had to learn to justify wisdom as one of her children. But the Lord took a beautifully gracious way to teach His servant, as He always does. "In that hour he healed many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and to many blind he granted sight". He gave the fullest evidence of the divine power that was operating, and sent John's messengers back to tell him of it, and to add, "Blessed is whosoever shall not be offended in me". John had his own place, "more excellent than a prophet", for he was the Lord's immediate forerunner, but it was not given to him to have a place in the new system of things introduced by the ministry of the Lord Himself. He had to accept his own place according to the counsel of God, and it was a wonderful place, but it was preparatory. He had not his place in the new order, though his ministry was essential to its introduction. So the Lord could say, "Among them that are born of women a greater prophet is no one than John the baptist; but he who is a little one in the kingdom of God is greater than he". How this would direct our thoughts to the surpassing excellence of what we are called to have a part in! The prophets of old, and John himself, were men sent from God to speak in the power of His Spirit; they were wonderful servants, divinely chosen and honoured vessels, but they were not in the kingdom of God. Does not the thought of this stimulate great desire in our hearts to know what it is to be in that kingdom? If the little one in it is greater than those great servants of God,
what a marvellous thing it is to be in it! A new order of things has been introduced by the presence here of the Son of man; the music of divine grace has sounded forth in this world of sin and death, and tax-gatherers and sinners have a Friend who can bring them righteously into the kingdom of God, and give them a greatness in the knowledge of God which the greatest of His servants in Old Testament times never had. Are we prepared as repentant sinners to justify God (verse 29), or are we, like the Pharisees and lawyers, rendering null as to ourselves the counsel of God?
The Lord says, "Wisdom has been justified of all her children" (verse 35); it is not that she will be justified, but she has been; the Lord saw around Him those who were the children of wisdom, and they had all justified God by condemning themselves and gladly appreciating the grace in which He had become known to them in Jesus. A child of wisdom -- representative of them all -- is brought before us in the next incident. And I believe we see in the "woman in the city, who was a sinner" one who was truly "a little one in the kingdom of God", and therefore greater than John the baptist. I believe she had acquired through Jesus a knowledge of God as revealed in grace which gave her wonderful greatness. How slow we are to understand what true greatness is! We are only great in proportion as we know God in grace, and are in heart under His sway. We can then minister to His pleasure in a way that no saint of old ever could. This woman's tears and kisses and anointing of His feet, her much love, showed how great she was. She was great in the appreciation of Him, The Spirit of God brings her activities before us; Jesus is sitting and He remains sitting > it is the woman who is active.
It is a choice moment when the Lord has no longer to be active, but can be the Object of activities which divine grace has set in motion in the heart of a sinner. No doubt there had been previous movements of grace which had affected her heart. She had heard the music to which He referred in verse 32 which brought the sweet sound of One who was "a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners", and she was responsive to it. The Spirit of God has not been pleased to give us her previous history under grace, but He shows us the precious fruit which had resulted from it.
The evangelical part of Christendom is largely occupied with the thought of working for Jesus, but it is a much greater
thing to minister to Him in love. Simon failed to do so, and I think we may say that Jesus is in Simon's house now as being where He is outwardly honoured, but where few hearts really minister to Him in love. The woman was deeply affected by the forgiving grace that was there in Jesus. Simon was blind to it; all he could see was One who did not repel a sinner, and that convinced him that Jesus was no prophet. He had no thought that the Creditor was there, but there as a Friend who was present in the grace of forgiveness for all His debtors. Jesus being there brought to light that there was a very great difference between Simon and the woman. She knew that she was a sinner, and that her sins were many, but the thought of this gave her an intense appreciation of the grace she had perceived in Jesus, and filled her soul with deep gratitude and love which could not be held back from expressing itself even in the chilling atmosphere of a Pharisee's house. The myrrh with which she anointed His feet no doubt set forth some intuition on her part that grace could only be shown to such as she at the cost of suffering. It was at cost to Himself that the Creditor could forgive. Her soul was moved to its depths at the thought of it. Simon knew no such emotions; he had never felt the burden of his sins, though no doubt he would have admitted in an orthodox way that he was a sinner. He could coldly criticise the One in whom heaven was expressing the grace of forgiveness. The Lord answered his unspoken thoughts.
"And Jesus answering said to him, Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee. And he says, Teacher, say it. There were two debtors of a certain creditor: one owned five hundred denarii and the other fifty; but as they had nothing to pay, he forgave both of them their debt: say, which of them therefore will love: him most? And Simon answering said, I suppose he to whom he forgave most. And he said to him, Thou hast rightly judged", verses 40 - 43. That is the position. The Creditor has a righteous claim upon all His debtors, but none of them can meet it, so that happy relations can only be brought about by a grace that is prepared to forgive them all. God's present attitude is one of forgiveness; it was set forth in Jesus when He was here and it has not changed now that He is glorified. The heart of one who is conscious of being a great debtor is deeply moved with gratitude and love when he learns the grace of the Creditor. He would do anything to show his
love. But the one who in his own mind is a small debtor does not appreciate the grace of forgiveness, and, as the Lord says, he loves little. How this searches us out! I may even be a professed believer in Jesus, and yet love Him little because I have a small sense of how much He has forgiven. What Jesus gets from me and what God gets from me in the ministry of love depends on the sense I have in my heart of how much He has forgiven me. This is how God is winning the heart of His poor fallen creature, for the real truth of the gospel is not so much that man needs God but that God needs man to display His kindness and grace upon him, and to secure his love. It is wonderful that God should want my love, sinner as I am. He wanted the woman's love and He wanted Simon's love; He got the first, but He did not get the second, and He felt it.
"And turning to the woman he said to Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house; thou gavest me not water on my feet, but she has washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with her hair. Thou gavest me not a kiss, but she from the time I came in has not ceased kissing my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but she has anointed my feet with myrrh", verses 44 - 46. There is a proverb which says, "He that covereth transgression seeketh love" (Proverbs 17:9); that was what was in His heart, and in the woman He found what He sought. She had broken through all the conventionalities in the strength of her much love. It is our privilege now, in the face of a cold and heartless profession, to show that we love Him much, not merely by working for Him, but by lavishing upon Him personally that which love only can give. None of us would dare to say that we had been forgiven little, but many of us might well pray that we might have a deeper sense of how much we have been forgiven, so that we might love much.
"For which cause I say to thee, Her many sins are forgiven; for she loved much". To Simon, who had despised her as a sinner, He would say plainly with divine authority that her sins were forgiven and He would claim that it was fitting that she should be righteously absolved, for she loved much. She was now in right relations with God as knowing His grace, and in consequence loving Him. Not even a Pharisee could dispute that one who loved God much had established a tide to forgiveness. Not that she received forgiveness on that ground; she received it purely on the ground of the grace of the Creditor,
and Simon might have had it on that ground also. But to Simon He would speak of her love as justifying her forgiveness. There is in forgiven sinners that to which the blessed God could call attention as evidence that there is a moral suitability in such persons being forgiven. But this is for the Pharisee who did not understand grace at all, and not for the woman who did. "And he said to her, Thy sins are forgiven". The Lord would not leave any forgiven sinner without a personal assurance of this kind, but it is the result of being near to Him in an affectionate way as appreciating the grace that has expressed itself in Him. That grace shines upon all in a general way, but when it is appreciated, and He is loved for it, there is a positive and personal knowledge of forgiveness which comes from nearness to Him so that there is a sense of having it directly from Himself. It is not His thought that any of us should be without this.
The Lord going through the country city by city, and village by village, is an intimation that He would have the power of the kingdom of God to be known in a large number of different localities. The reign of grace was to come into expression in many places, a foreshadowing of what would come about by the setting up of local assemblies in connection with Paul's ministry. Not only did the Lord preach and announce the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, but the power of the kingdom was seen in the persons who accompanied Him. "The twelve" represented His authority in administration, but the women who had been healed of wicked spirits and infirmities, and who now ministered to Him of their substance, were a personal evidence of the power of the kingdom. The Lord would have that kind of administration, and that kind of personal testimony, in every city and village that He visits throughout the world. The authority of those whom He has chosen to be apostles must be everywhere owned, for they are the representatives of His authority, but there must also be the subjective state set forth in the women, who were healed persons, set free from the power of evil, and now ministering to Him in love. The woman seen at the end of the previous
chapter is a selected pattern of the kind of persons who can be with the Lord and can minister to Him in every City and village. The true character of the kingdom of God is that the authority of Jesus is owned, but it is owned by those whose sins have been forgiven, and who have been healed of wicked spirits and infirmities, and who now love Him much and minister to Him as the woman did in Simon's house. What a testimony to be set in every city and village!
The testimony of God in this world largely hangs on the appreciation of Jesus as the Friend of sinners. Where Jesus is loved and ministered to, and where His heart is gratified by what He receives from those who love Him, there is the kingdom of God in power. Perhaps many of us would be more vitally in the kingdom of God if we were more in the ardent affection of those to whom much has been forgiven. Perhaps some of us still need healing of infirmities which hinder us from expressing what God is in grace. Mark tells us that the Lord cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene, but here in Luke we read that they had "gone out". It suggests that they could not remain where Jesus was loved. But if the demons go out it is that the Lord's appointments may be recognised as set forth in "the twelve". For us this would mean that the Lord's commandments through His apostles have their full place in directing us as to how we walk together (see 1 Corinthians 14:37). One important way in which love to the Lord Jesus comes into expression is by regard for that assembly order which He has instituted.
The first three verses of chapter 8 really connect with the end of chapter 7; verse 4 begins a new subject. There is now "a great crowd coming together", and this brings before the Lord's mind that the kingdom of God was going to take a certain form in which it would be necessary to discriminate between different classes of persons who would come into relation to it. The word of God would be widely sown, and many would hear it, but it would only be fruitful in "good ground", where there would be, as presented in Luke, a full result -- a hundredfold. What we see here is the normal yield from seed so valuable and fertile as "the word of God". The word of divine grace falling into good ground produces a full result for God. The Lord gives His disciples a clear understanding why the word in many cases does not result in a normal yield. These are "mysteries" known only to those
initiated into them. Many at the present time hear the word of God, but they are not so affected as to become fruitful. In the woman at the end of the previous chapter we see one in whom the word had become very fruitful, and those mentioned in verses 2 and 3 of this chapter had brought forth fruit with patience. But this proves that the seed had fallen into good ground. "An honest and good heart" in man can only be the result of a work of God.
In this parable as Matthew gives it there is a diminishing result -- "one hundred, one sixty, and one thirty" -- because things are viewed there as committed to the responsibility of men. In Mark there is an increasing result -- "one thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundred" -- because a service patterned after that of the Son of God is in view. But in Luke the word of God is regarded as producing its own normal fruit because it is the word of God, not as Moses spoke it or as the prophets spoke it, but the word of God in grace as the Son of God spoke it, and that word falling into an honest and good heart -- that is, a heart exercised in self-judgment, for every man is dishonest until he repents and acknowledges that he is a sinner. Then a good heart appreciates goodness as seen in the Friend of sinners. The woman in chapter 7 had an honest heart; she knew that her sins were many; but she had a heart that deeply appreciated the goodness and grace that she found in Jesus. She delighted to lavish her all upon Him, the best and choicest that she possessed. She was one in whom the word of God would bring forth a hundredfold.
The seed sown by the wayside, or on the rock, or in the midst of thorns, bears no fruit. This explains why the word of God does not become fruitful in all who hear it. By the wayside the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart that they may not believe and be saved. How solemn to know that there is a positive action of the devil when careless people hear the word! Then those on the rock are superficial; they readily profess to believe, but they have no root; there has been no breaking up of the fallow ground with them, and in time of trial they fall away. Then that among thorns gets choked under cares and riches and pleasures of life. The Lord would give us spiritual understanding as to these things.
Keeping the word of God (verse 15) would be treasuring it in the heart; then there is the bringing forth fruit with patience. The word multiplies itself as it produces in believers
what corresponds with it. And the grace of God cherished in the heart is capable of producing a full result; we ought not to contemplate anything less than a hundredfold.
Then the Lord has the thought, not only of fruit for Himself and for God, but that there shall be a testimony shining forth for men to see. No one who lights a lamp covers it with a vessel or puts it under a couch, but sets it on a lamp-stand. The knowledge of God in grace in the heart of man is, at first, hidden and secret, but He intends it to become manifest and known. It is to shine, and therefore we are to take heed how we hear, so that it may really shine forth as light from us; as it does we shall get more, but if we are not possessed of it so that it shines the Lord says that we shall lose what we seem to have -- a very solemn consideration.
A very precious result of hearing the word of God and doing comes out in verse 21. There is a generation produced that is morally kindred with Christ. The word "it" in that verse is not in the original; it reads literally, "those who hear the word of God and do". That is, the word puts them in motion, as it did the woman in chapter 7, and the women in chapter 8: 3. To "do" something in relation to Christ is the thought, to minister to Him. The world can understand good works, but to do something purely to minister to Him is another matter. For instance, He said, "Do this in remembrance of me". That act of love means very little to the world, but it means much to Him.
"And it came to pass on one of the days, that he entered into a ship, himself and his disciples; and he said to them, Let us pass over to the other side of the lake; and they set off from shore", verse 22. I think "the other side of the lake", as presented here, has the Gentile world in view. The Lord was educating His disciples in preparation for the extension of the testimony of grace to those who, up to that time, had been beyond the range of any direct testimony from God. They were now coming into the divine view for blessing, but this would entail special difficulties and opposition from Satan. This would be of such a character that it could only be overcome by the power resident in the Son of God. The water of the lake speaks of the unstable conditions which existed in the world, and upon which Satan could act. In carrying the testimony to "the other side" there would be peculiar difficulties to meet which the Lord perfectly understood. He was
with His disciples, but not apparently active on their behalf; "he fell asleep". It was going to be a testing time for them, but He knew all about it, and He indicated to them by falling asleep the restful confidence which was suited to such conditions. They would apparently be without any outward security, and exposed to danger through adverse power. The conditions of the world to come were not yet present, but the Person was there who could bring them all in. Did they know Him well enough to be restful in a sudden squall of wind? Do we know Him well enough to be restful when the enemy's power shows itself? His sleeping was a voice to them; it was as much as to say, It is a time to be restful. We have noticed, and we shall notice, how things are patterned in Jesus in this gospel. We may be quite sure that His conduct in any circumstance was the right conduct for that circumstance. His servant Peter had learned the lesson when he slept in prison (see Acts 12). A great storm was then breaking on the little ship, for James had been killed with the sword and Peter was put in prison with every probability, humanly speaking, of being put to death. But such was his confidence in the Lord that he slept, though there was no sign as yet of any divine intervention on his behalf. Quietness and confidence are one great proof that the Lord is with His people, even though conditions may be very unsettled, and we may be very conscious of weakness in ourselves. The Lord would not have us to doubt that He is with us. It is said of Israel that they tempted Jehovah by saying, "Is Jehovah among us or not?" If we say that, we tempt Him; we have called His love in question. Some of the last words of the Lord to His own were, "These things have I spoken to you that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye have tribulation; but be of good courage; I have overcome the world".
When the Lord "entered into a ship, himself and his disciples", He knew what He was doing. He knew all about the storm that was coming and He intentionally put Himself in that position, but He was with them in it. Note that word, "Himself and his disciples". It is necessary that we should know the Person who is with us. The previous chapters had been enough to show who He was, and yet they thought they could perish with Him in the ship. A dreadful storm burst upon Stephen, but he had no thought of perishing; his last hour was one of calm and holy triumph, though there was no
intervention outwardly on his behalf. Such is the Lord's tender compassion that He often quiets a storm, as He did in the scripture before us. He will assuredly not fail in consideration for our weakness, but He would like our hearts to be filled with the consciousness of what we have in Himself. He does not always change circumstances, but He over-rules them for the good of His saints, and in view of His testimony.
"The country of the Gadarenes" (verse 26) would probably be inhabited by Gentiles, and the man who had demons may set forth the condition of things as seen in the Gentile world. The full strength of the power of evil was manifested there in a terrible way. We have only to read Romans I to see what man was as in the Gentile world: idolatry, licentiousness, violence and corruption in their full strength were seen as holding possession of man. There was not even the outward propriety which, to some extent, marked the Jew. Philosophers and moralists had tried to curb the most glaring evils, but without success. But it was in the mind of God that His grace, revealed through Jesus, should go out to the Gentile world in delivering power. God needed the Gentile to bring out the fulness of His grace; God's house could not be filled by Jews alone, so the bondman was sent out into the ways and fences -- that is, into the Gentile world -- to compel men to come in to the great supper of grace.
This incident intimates how the Lord would effect full deliverance for men outside privileged Israel. What a marvellous sight it was for heaven to look down and see Corinthians, Cretans, Thessalonians and Romans clothed in garments of righteousness and holiness and sitting at the feet of Jesus! The Lord has secured a testimony to Himself in the Gentile world in those once dominated by the power of evil, but now delivered and restful, and left here to be a witness of what Jesus has done for them. Every believer delivered from the power of sin is part of that witness.
But Gadara was as little prepared for the powers of the world to come as Judaea. They asked Him to depart from them. It was soon manifested in the Gentile world that Jesus was not wanted by the mass of people, but He secured a witness for Himself, and there has been a witness to Him in the Gentile world ever since, though the mass of people do not want Him. I have no doubt, the time is coming when Jesus will be as definitely refused in Christendom as He was in Gadara.
Complete apostasy has not yet come, but it is drawing near.
The sovereign power of the Lord in delivering from the active energy of evil is set forth in the man who had demons. There is no evidence of any godly exercise in the man, or of any desire on his part to be set free, though he did fall down before Jesus. Our attention is called in his case to the interest the Lord had in him, and what the Lord did for him, rather than to any exercises he had. The gospel going out to the Gentile world was a matter of pure sovereignty; it was God visiting the nations to take out of them a people for His Name. And so it is still in many cases. Sometimes the most violent and outrageous sinners are met by divine power acting in grace, and they are subdued and delivered without having previously any desire for Jesus.
But in the case of the woman with a flux of blood we see a history of exercise such as would be found with those who have had some knowledge of God but are conscious of needs that no human power or skill can meet. There had been long experience of weakness, and of effort and desire to be healed; her state was obviously a very defective one, and she had twelve years experience of it, but in the end she got the virtue that was in Another. Her condition rendered her unclean (see Leviticus 15).
If she had eaten a peace offering, she would have been cut off from the people of God altogether. Her condition rendered her unclean, but she felt it, and was very anxious to be relieved of it. The fact that she had spent all her living on physicians was a commendation for her; it proved that she was in dead earnest and that there was an intensity of desire that was prepared to sacrifice all her living in this world that she might get back to the enjoyment of spiritual privileges. Her condition incapacitated her for spiritual privilege; she could have no communion with the altar of God. She wanted to be relieved of this disability, and she went industriously to work. For twelve years she did everything that suggested itself to her mind to get relief, so that she might return to the enjoyment of communion with the altar, and be able to eat the peace offering which speaks of communion; all who partook of it were brought into communion with the altar.
There is something very beautiful in the intense earnestness with which this woman had sought to have her disability removed, and the confidence she was brought to after long
experience of the fruitlessness of everything else; she was brought to be perfectly assured that if she could but touch His clothing she would be healed. What faith in His Person! We have been considering in this chapter that all turns on having the faith of His Person; if the disciples in the boat had had the faith of His Person they would not have waked Him from sleep. This woman came to the faith of His Person. However long she might have been in that state, and however hopeless was every other resource, she had perfect confidence that if she could but touch His clothing she would be healed. She was brought to the faith of what was in Christ for her, and we all have to come to it.
The presence of Jesus calls faith into activity. If we get an apprehension of Him it brings faith into activity, and we begin to realise that no case is hopeless. The man possessed with demons was brought to the feet of Jesus in the sovereignty of divine power. But now this inward exercise has to be met. The woman apprehended what was there in His Person, and touched the hem of His garment; she touched the ribbon of blue. Full of the sense of her own weakness and failure, and full of the experience which twelve years had given her of spending all her living without getting better, she sees now in Another the heavenly perfection of everything which she had experienced was lacking in herself, and she put herself in contact with Him. She had been struggling for twelve years with what was in herself, but now she put herself into contact with what was in Him -- that is the whole secret. Have we been in dead earnest about it? I knew a very pious lad in Yorkshire who was greatly concerned about what he found in himself, his own weakness and failure. He came to me one day and said, 'I have saved up a little money and have £150 in the bank -- do you think it would help me if I gave it to the Lord's work? I am willing to give it now if it would help me'. He was ready to spend all his living, and sacrifice all that he had belonging to life in this world to get spiritual healing. What we see here is a soul going through a prolonged exercise because of a condition in itself which deprives it of the joy of communion. I suppose every one of us knows something of what it is to be in a state where we could not say that anything particularly wrong in a word or deed was on our conscience, but we found ourselves deprived of the joy of spiritual communion. That was the case with this woman --
what could put it right? The remedy was to get linked up in her faith and affection with another Person in whom there was perfection after a heavenly order. There is perfection in Christ of everything we crave for, and we may pass over from the consciousness of what we are, and the failure of our efforts, to the consciousness of what is in Him. Then we can go to the altar of God with exceeding joy and eat the peace offering; we can enjoy fellowship with God and with His people.
Earnest people try many physicians -- the law, resolutions to be different, or prayer -- prayer is a very common resort of earnest souls, but it is possible to pray and yet not touch Jesus. Some of us have known what it was to have natural propensities which, when active, operate to hinder communion. I have known what it is to pray earnestly to God to give me grace to overcome them, and then get up from my knees and find the same things working still. It is a Person we want. This woman got power and virtue out of the Lord. The Lord did for her what she could not do for herself, and what no physician of any kind could do for her.
There is much that we have to arrive at for ourselves. The gospel presents the full measure of divine grace to us objectively; the Lord's servants preach it and will keep on preaching it until the Lord comes; but then all that is presented objectively in the glad tidings has to be reached from our side. We have to put the link on. This woman put the link on from her side; it was a personal transaction, a personal touch. We see the divine deliverance in its completeness from God's side in the man possessed with demons; the sovereignty of divine power acting in grace did everything for him. From one point of view we may say the gospel does everything for us; it comes to the poor sinner and tells him of One who can truly deliver him "from sin, the world and Satan", One who will delight to blot out his sins and give him the Spirit. Through Christ and in the value of redemption he can be washed, sanctified, and finally glorified, having a body like Jesus. That is one side, but we have also to take up things from the side of our exercises, and learn through them the reality of what there is in Jesus for us. This woman learnt what was in Him at the end of twelve years of exercises.
I think the demoniac might be said to answer to Romans 6, the woman to Romans 7, and the little maid to Romans 8, where the Spirit is life. In the demoniac there was a past
history of the power of the devil, and in the woman a past history of the incapacity of the flesh, disqualifying her for communion. In the case of the damsel it is rather the drooping and withering of everything that seemed attractive and beautiful. Just at the time when the father would be looking for his daughter to answer to him in intelligent affection more fully than ever before, she droops and dies. How often there is with us a lack of living affections! It has often been my deep exercise that I have a sense of the lack in my heart of living affections that would be suitable for right relations with God. I suppose many of us know what it means. What is the good of Christian privileges if we are not there in living affections? We need affections moving in the energy of, life, and for this there must be the quickening word and touch of Jesus. One thinks tenderly of children brought up, as we might say, in the synagogue; this girl was brought up in relation to the synagogue. We do find children who are attractive, their ways are comely, they are obedient to their parents, no vice is manifest in them, but have they a life that death cannot touch? There may be everything beautiful outwardly like the young man whom the Lord loved when He saw him; but he had not eternal life; he had not a life that death could not touch, and he knew it. I think we have to pass through an exercise which teaches us the necessity for divine quickening in our affections.
In saying that she was not dead the Lord was looking at her from His own point of view; the case was not hopeless in His eyes. Psalm 119 is very helpful in relation to this question. We find there great delight in the law of God, in His commandments, His word, and His statutes, but ever and anon through that Psalm there is a prayer for quickening. If the heart is to answer affectionately to God there must be a quickening of the affections. It is not enough to be outwardly correct; we need divine quickening in our affections so that we truly answer to the place and relationships in which divine grace has set us. When Israel is quickened they will answer to God; they will love God with all their heart, and their neighbour as themselves. We sing sometimes, "We've heard Thy quickening voice". The word 'quicken' in Hebrews refers both to making alive and keeping alive. We need not only a first quickening, but we need quickening in the sense of keeping alive. We are to live in our affections in a new and divine way. This chapter looks on to conditions which will be public in the world to
come. If a person is to live in the world to come he must have eternal life, that is, life that death cannot touch.
This maid was the subject of her father's devoted affection; she was his only daughter, the darling of his heart, and he was suddenly smitten with the terrible fear that he was going to lose all response from her. That led to his bringing the Lord in, and in bringing the Lord in, he brought the power of life in. The Lord can quicken us and keep us alive, so that when we come together to remember Him it is not done in a formal way merely because it is the right thing to do, but it is done with a living spring of affection towards Himself; there is life there. Then "he commanded something to eat to be given her". I think we miss something if we do not look at the Lord's supper as food; it is not only a remembrance of Him, but it is food for our affections. If we have eaten the Lord's supper a great many times there should surely be vigour in our affections, vigour that would delight to minister to the Lord in the energy of life. It is not the divine thought that we should eat the Lord's supper and go away without increase of strength in our spiritual affections. If this girl had not lived she could not have eaten; we must live to eat, and then we eat to live. It is the Lord's intent that our affections should be enlarged and invigorated every time we eat the Supper. Without living affections it would be merely a religious form; but then on the other hand we eat to live. We eat that we may be nourished, enlarged, and strengthened in our spiritual affections. I have known what it is to be concerned and worried about something, and to come to the Lord's supper and get such a sense of His love that I felt what had troubled me did not matter a straw.
This chapter opens with the mission of the twelve. The Lord had chosen them in chapter 6, and what follows in that chapter seems to emphasise the need that they should be like Jesus. That is, the Lord speaks of loving their enemies, doing good, and being sons of the Highest. They are to be like Him, as He says, "Every one that is perfected shall be as his teacher". It suggests the necessity of being like Him before any could be
sent forth to represent Him. That is the idea of discipleship, not simply that we learn things, but we become as the teacher. The primary thought of God in creating man was that man might be in His image and after His likeness. Now if I understand this chapter aright, it is man in the image of God; that is, God is rightly represented in man. In order for that there must be likeness; the disciples were to be like Him, to be as the Teacher. When that is secured we have persons who can be the image of God; they can publicly express God in the scene where He is unknown. In sending out twelve I believe that the Lord had in mind that there would be a great extension of the representation of God in this world. The Lord was not going to limit the representation of God to His own Person, but He would give an extension so that, not only could He cast out demons and heal the sick, but He would give men the power to do what He had done. The representation of God in the power of grace was to be extended. Of course the Lord in securing the twelve had the heavenly city in view; He was thinking about the foundations of the city. When the heavenly city comes down with the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb on the foundations of its walls, there will be a glorious public representation of God in His creation, because the city has the glory of God.
We must not lose sight of the distinctive place of the twelve, but at the same time, in principle, every soul converted has in view the extension of the representation of God in this world. There is a further extension later on, in the mission of the seventy. We see the representation of God in one Man, then in twelve, and then in seventy; the thing is extended, and in a certain sense has been extending ever since. We should cherish the thought of representation; it has come very much before me of late. The twelve represented the Lord wherever they went; they did what He did and they said what He said. They preached the kingdom of God. It was the distinctive position of the twelve, but it is the position morally of all saints.
The Lord brought the disciples up to the full measure of His thoughts, and we all have to be brought up to it. The Lord did not cease to act by them until He had brought them into correspondence with His own thoughts, so that they fully represented Him to the five thousand. What a blessed representation of Him there was when they took the loaves out of His hand! They had to bring their own limited apprehension
to Himself; but then, when He connected that with the grace of heaven and with His own blessedness, the disciples could dispense perfectly according to the fulness of the Lord's own thoughts so that every one in the crowd was filled and satisfied. There was a perfect representation of the gracious power in Himself through the disciples. They had to learn, as we have to learn, that they were hopelessly inadequate for everything, but when things were livingly connected with His Person there was no inadequacy, and there was enough to fill every one of the five thousand men, representing, I suppose, the whole number right through the present dispensation that would be fed under His blessed Hand, and then there was enough left over for Israel.
This thought of representation is a very important thing in the mind of God. I believe it is the great primary thought of God, and it puts great dignity on the twelve, and on all who are represented in the twelve. For this representation nothing is requisite outside likeness to Jesus and what is in Him; no accessories are needed; no staff, no scrip, no bread, no money, and not two coats. The Lord could invest the disciples with ability to do as He did Himself, and to say the same things that He would say Himself; and to do things without any extraneous addition of any kind, no matter how necessary it might appear to be from a human point of view -- they were adequately furnished without any addition. It is not only that things are done correctly, but that they are done in such a way and by such persons that there is a representation of Christ and of the blessed God in the way they are done. We want to see what the divine mind is, and to see that there is that in Christ that can make it good according to our measure in every one of us.
It seems to me that the verses we read cover a great scope of things; the delivering, healing, and proclaiming of the kingdom of God would cover the representative side in connection with what is evangelical. The feeding of the crowd would cover what we might speak of as church service. The delivering and healing would be the gospel side, but then when we have people delivered and healed they want feeding. It was in the Lord's mind to feed them; He would have every one of them well fed. This crowd represents the result of the Lord's delivering and healing. The Lord had great regard for the crowd, and not one of those five thousand escaped His notice.
The idea of a crowd is an unordered mass of persons; and the Lord would act to set the crowd in order so that they might be fed. In a desert place, such as this was, a vast company of persons were found who were divinely satisfied and nourished by that which is completely outside the ken of man. That was the divine thought, and the disciples, who were representative of Him in delivering and healing power, had to learn to become representative of Him in feeding.
The Lord says, "Give ye them to eat". In this gospel He is not presented as doing it Himself, as in John's gospel. Here He makes the disciples representative of Him. The saints have food to administer. In this chapter they had five loaves and two fishes, representing what has been acquired of Christ through spiritual exercise and spiritual diligence. A loaf is the result of various processes: there has been sowing, reaping, threshing, grinding, and baking, involving much diligence. A fish is not quite like that; it is not the product of man's labour; it is brought into the net by the sovereign action of God. The loaf would represent what we learn of Christ through exercise and consideration, but the fish would represent what is given by God sovereignly. I believe that if we furnished the five loaves God would give us the two fishes. Five speaks of human weakness, but with two fishes we have seven, suggesting spiritual completeness, and it became adequate to feed the five thousand. No one can represent Christ in ministry apart from much exercise. There has to be much spiritual labour, seeking the mind of God, and prayer; but then also there is beyond that what God sovereignly gives out of His hidden resources, so that those who minister get thoughts and apprehensions of Christ that they did not labour for; they come sovereignly into their nets. That is how the food supply is made available.
Both the loaves and fishes represent what is of Christ, but as apprehended by His saints. The disciples could say, It is very little, but we have it. In a certain sense it does not matter how small it is, because if it is of Christ it can be multiplied immeasurably. The question is, Have we something that the Lord can multiply when He touches it? Philadelphia had something that the Lord could multiply; He could say, You have kept My word and not denied My name; you have kept the word of My patience. They had cherished Christ; there was something there that the Lord could multiply, and
make it food for every saint on earth. The Laodiceans said they had a great deal -- "We are rich and have grown rich, and have need of nothing" -- but when the Lord touches it, it withers and crumbles into nothing -- "thou art poor and blind and naked". If we have an impression of Christ, however small, He can multiply it and make it food for the whole church of God on earth; there is no limit to what He can do with it. I look round on Christendom and see people everywhere going on with things that, if the Lord touched them, would burst like a bubble. What a mercy to be where there is the ministry of Christ, and where the Spirit gives precious thoughts of Christ! If we have only a little and it gets into the hand of Christ, there is something there that He can cover with all the grace and power of heaven. He looked up to heaven, blessed it, and gave it into the hands of the disciples, and there is enough for the whole five thousand. This is a remarkable picture of what the Lord is doing at the present time. There is an appalling lack of food among the people of God today. It is a desert place to many. The crowd is an unordered company, but the Lord would have things in order, and He makes them to sit down by companies of fifty, which is a suggestion that companies of such a number facilitate the administration of the food supply. It is important that what the Lord is giving universally should be made available in our localities. These "companies of fifty" provide suitable conditions for personal interest and pastoral care and for the effective representation of Christ in His service of nourishing and cherishing the assembly.
The disciples, in dispensing the food, were to be representative of Christ. It is a sobering thought that in all service among the saints I am to be personally representative of Christ. What a character it would give to the service! I am not to serve because I know a thing or two, but as personally representative of Christ in His feeding activities towards His saints. Our service would be more effective if we were more like Him -- no other service is worth anything.
Luke's account of the transfiguration (verses 28 - 36) is in keeping with the general outlook of his gospel; he speaks to us of the present aspect of the kingdom of God. Matthew presents the future glory of the kingdom, so that what is future may be present power in our souls: "the Son of man coming in his kingdom", Matthew 16:28. But here they were so see
"the kingdom of God". Matthew presents the majesty of the King; it is the divine side. Luke, on the other hand, presents our side as seen patterned in Jesus; He is the pattern for all who are true subjects of the kingdom. So here the Lord Jesus was transfigured as He prayed; it is a dependent Man seen in conditions of glory.
It is not without meaning that Luke describes the transfiguration as "about eight days after" the Lord's words, whereas Matthew and Mark speak of six days. "Six days" suggests the period of man's day after which God will bring in His seventh day in perfect contrast to all that has gone before, but the eighth day suggests an entirely new beginning. The number of the beast (see Revelation 13:18) is 666, and this is short of perfection, but the number 8 speaks of the pleasure of God in Jesus. (It is remarkable that the numerical value of the Greek letters composing the name Jesus is 888.) We have seen that in this gospel He is constantly presented as praying. Subjection and dependence are primary elements in the kingdom of God, involving the surrender of our own wills and the recognition that the will of God must prevail. The first sign of a man being elevated is that he prays, as we see with Saul of Tarsus -- "behold he prays", Acts 9:11. He was truly a subdued man, and this would be the result of Matthew's presentation of the Lord in His majesty. Saul of Tarsus was brought down by "a light out of heaven" (Acts 9:3), and the sense of it grew with him: in chapter 22 it was "a great light", and in chapter 26 "a light above the brightness of the sun". Then, having been subdued, he was marked by dependence, for he prayed. Man is never so elevated as when speaking to God. If I could always have an audience with the Queen, I should be regarded as having great dignity; to have access to God is the greatest possible dignity.
As Jesus prayed on the mountain, "the fashion of his countenance became different". A man's spirit expresses itself in his countenance. There was no need for any moral change in the Lord Jesus, but the proper effect of prayer is patterned for us in Him. As we pray we are filled with the sense of what God is, His feelings, compassions and thoughts, and this affects our very countenances. We are transformed (the same word as transfigured) as we behold the glory of the Lord (see 2 Corinthians 3). The actual transforming object is the glory, but it works through prayer. As we see the
blessed shining of God in Jesus, we pray about it and we are changed.
Then His raiment became white and effulgent. It is a fore-shadowing of His glory. As applied to us it would suggest that everything about us is to be in keeping with the presence of God -- our habits, associations, households, business, and relations with our brethren. The apostle exhorted even young converts that they should "walk worthy of God, who has called you to his kingdom and glory", 1 Thessalonians 2:11, 12. Are we all exercised to be in correspondence with the light that has shone upon us?
Then Moses and Elias are seen, two men talking with Jesus. They represent persons who have spiritual intelligence. It was not to be found then upon earth, so these two men are brought forward. They spoke of His departure, or exodus; He was going out of everything here. Moses and Elias knew well in spiritual, heavenly communion with Him that the kingdom of God as patterned in Jesus could not possibly have a place in this world. The kingdom of God necessitates that we too must have our exodus, because it is patterned in Jesus.
The children of Israel had to leave Egypt because there was nothing there suitable for them as the people of God, and we shall leave this world system even in its most religious character, for it was from Jerusalem that He went out. It is not here the aspect of atonement for sin, but that in His death Jesus has left the whole scene of the enemy's power. In its application to us it would correspond with Romans 6"he has died unto sin once for all". He has left the whole sin-system behind Him for ever. So we are to "reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God in Christ Jesus". We are to make our exodus publicly "with a high hand", as the Israelites left Egypt, not as convicted felons. It involves the teaching of baptism; they were all baptised in the cloud and in the sea. "Baptised in the cloud" answers to Romans 5; "baptised in the sea" to Romans 6. The cloud is the Shekinah glory cloud, all that God is in grace shining out through Jesus. If we knew what it was to be immersed in that -- justification, peace with God, access, the love of God, reconciliation and eternal life -- we should have a great desire to be baptised in the sea, to accept death to the system controlled by Satan in order to be here for God. The children of Israel went out triumphantly in military order, and they sang their song of
victory on the wilderness side of the Red Sea; there is no such song in Egypt.
As these things have place with us we shall learn the blessedness of sonship. The reason why we do not know more of our place as sons with the Father is because we have not worked out the exercises which belong to the kingdom; there must be a moral foundation laid in the soul. "There came a voice out of the cloud", and the scene around fades. Nothing can surpass in excellence the place the Son had with the Father, but kingdom conditions are necessary for its display. The Father calls attention to His beloved Son and says, "Hear him", as if to say, I want you to know Me and He knows Me. Our place in sonship with the Father is patterned in Jesus, the beloved Son. We can only learn it in Him and from Him; we cannot learn it from books. He says, "And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them", John 17:22. It is an exodus from a world of darkness to the light of all that the Father has established in the Son -- it is worthy of God.
WE have noticed that the Lord sent out those who should be His personal representatives. He extended the testimony of grace by adding to the vessels in whom it should be carried -- first the twelve, and then the seventy. In principle every soul brought to know the Lord is an extension of the testimony of grace and of the personal representation of Christ in this world. The Lord says in verse 16, "He that hears you hears me; and he that rejects you rejects me, and he that rejects me rejects him that sent me". The Lord was the personal representative of God, and those whom He sends are His personal representatives.
A divine principle is involved in their being sent in twos. One is not adequate as a witness: "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established". Peter stood up with the eleven; he did not stand up alone. If we are called to be personal representatives of Jesus, it is important that we should be up to our mission. The seventy were, like ourselves, not up to the height of their mission. They had been wonderfully used, but they had been sent forth to prepare
the way of the Lord; He sent them "into every city and place where he himself was about to come". They were sent to prepare His way and as workmen into His harvest. As having His Spirit they were sent forth as lambs in the midst of wolves, they were sent as peace-bringers, and they were to be content with such circumstances as they found themselves in. All this was their mission, but they came back rejoicing in the fact that the demons were subject to them through His name. It was below the level of their mission; it was something that signalised them. There was the divine power, but evidently they thought of it as giving them some peculiar distinction -- "the demons are subject to us" -- they rejoiced in that. The contrast is marked in this section; these verses are the crown and climax of the gospel. The joy of the seventy was quite different from the Lord's. He had His joy, but their joy was based on something quite different from what His was based on; and the Lord is not content that we should have a joy of a different character and on a different basis from His own joy. That is why this is the top note of the gospel, because in these verses we are brought into the region of the Lord's own personal joy, and of the pleasure of the Father and the Son. There is no possibility of any movement of evil there, no demons to be subjugated there.
Luke greatly supports Paul by making the heavenly supreme in our thoughts. The great point is, not that we are going to heaven by and by -- all Christians look for that -- but that we are citizens of heaven now at this present moment; our names are written there, we are on the roll of the citizens of heaven at this minute. If you could look at it you would find your name, and the names of all who love the Lord Jesus Christ, inscribed there as present citizens of heaven. The teaching of the heavenly in Luke is in keeping with Paul's teaching; we have to do with a heavenly One and we are heavenly ones.
Chapter 9 brings us to heaven. "It came to pass when the days of his receiving up were fulfilled" -- that is the great turning point of the gospel; what follows is more or less connected with the Lord as in the heavenly position, as received up. Luke presents things morally, and this is the point where the Spirit of God through Luke contemplates the Lord as about to be received up; He is going to heaven. Now all the teaching of this gospel turns on that, and we have to be impressed with the importance of the heavenly. People say,
Why have you not more converts? We need to understand the relative value of things. I see people doing great works, and able to speak of conversions, but how does it stand in relation to the heavenly? That is the great question. You may have great activity of divine power and little appreciation of the heavenly, like the seventy, but that was not the special pleasure of the Lord. His thoughts are set on what is heavenly. If the Lord is presented to us as "received up", what is heavenly must be of supreme importance. I see people more interested in having power on earth than in being citizens of heaven: they talk of speaking with tongues, of healing the sick, of miracles, and make all that very important, but that is not heaven or the heavenly.
Paul was used to the end of his career in preaching the gospel, but there was always a heavenly ring about it; his gospel was always clothed in blue. He never tired of telling people that he was converted by a light out of heaven; he had a heavenly commission and there was something peculiarly heavenly in the way he preached the gospel.
The Lord had sent forth the seventy in the light and power of what was heavenly. Here we find them rejoicing in the power they had over what was evil, and it was true enough. But what was in the view of the Lord was Satan's fall from heaven: "I beheld Satan as lightning falling out of heaven". The Lord was thinking of heaven, and they were thinking of their wonderful power over evil here. The Lord was going to heaven; the fact of His being received up involved the fall of Satan. The very fact of Jesus going up as Man to heaven made it absolutely necessary that Satan should fall out of heaven. We are sent forth to represent the Lord, but we have to feel that we have given a defective representation; we cannot deny it. This dispensation has heaven in view, so the full height of everything on the divine side is brought in in love. It is what prophets have desired to see and have not seen. What satisfies divine love must be a scene where no evil is present. The setting of this is beautiful -- Christ is received up into heaven, the saints are registered there, and Satan falls from heaven. Now, the Lord says, I want your joy to be there. The Lord gives the power to put all evil under the feet of the saints; even Satan himself is to be bruised under their feet; but that is not our joy, nor what made the Lord praise. Satan's fall is not actual yet, but it was in the view of
the Lord. Satan is not actually cast out according to Revelation 12, but in the view of the Lord Satan is seen as fallen from heaven and man is seen as exalted to heaven, and the saints are registered in heaven.
We ought to think much of heaven as our present place, not only that we are going there. The more we accept that we are at the present moment citizens of heaven, the more we shall be characterised by what is heavenly. Publicly the Lord is rejected. What marks this section of the gospel is privacy: "having turned to the disciples privately", verse 23. The Lord said these things privately. What we get here we cannot get by the preaching or by the ministry of the word; it is a matter of what is personal and private. The Lord withdrew their hearts into the region of His own joy. There was a region of unalloyed joy to the Lord, and it formed His praises. On this occasion we are permitted to hear the Son speaking to the Father -- what an immense interest to us! There is a holy character and sweetness about it that does not attach to anything else. There is a private scene too in John 17the Lord is with His loved ones, and He opens His heart freely, and in their presence speaks to His Father. The trouble is that so many of us live on what is public or on what we hear ministered in the gospel or in teaching, but we do not get revelation that way. Here we have the region where the Father is acting; we have the activities of the Father and the Son. There is no other movement of any kind; we are outside the region of evil altogether. The Father is praised because He has hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes, so one would be sorry to be wise and prudent. There is the direct action of the Father and the Son in personal revelation. This is a blessed retreat. Even if we could do works of power there is something far better, the favour of having a personal revelation.
This is an action of the Father revealing these precious heavenly things to babes, persons of no account in this world but only subjects of affection. If we are prepared to be that, there is no limit to what we may get through divine favour. The new man is marked by an absence of self-importance and self-sufficiency. To be a babe indicates that we are subjects of divine work, so the self-importance of which we are all full naturally has come down, and a different kind of spirit has come up, and then the Father can reveal heavenly things.
Someone once asked J.N.D. to give him some hints as to the best way to study the Scriptures. He replied, I find that when I come to the word in the spirit of a new-born babe I get something.
In verse 22 the Lord says, "No one knows who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son is pleased to reveal him". That is personal. One cannot conceive of anything greater or higher than this, because it is the good pleasure of the Father and the Son. The Father is seen in supreme authority as the Lord of heaven and earth, and it has pleased Him to reveal the whole blessedness of heavenly things to babes. All things, in heaven and on earth, are seen as delivered to the Son. We are outside the sphere of evil; there is no possibility of failure in the system of things delivered by the Father to the Son. It changes the character of persons who get this supreme favour; it is open to all who have the babe character. These things are beyond all thought -- what creature could take in the thought of all things delivered by the Father to the Son? It is infinite. The Son is so great that no one can know Him but the Father. What a comfort that is! If One in the form of God comes into manhood, there must be that about Him which is inscrutable. It is our great theme of praise that no one knows the Son but the Father; we should not like to think that we could compass the Son. Then, no one knows the Father but the Son, "and he to whomsoever the Son is pleased to reveal him". It is a matter of the Son's personal favour and pleasure to reveal the Father. The Lord delights to put in the hearts of His saints the knowledge of the Father as He knows Him. If we know the Father at all we know Him as the Son knows Him; there is no other way to know Him now in this heavenly system. He is revealed sovereignly by the Son.
Matthew 11 presents the side of the Lord's rejection. Here He praises in view of the completeness of the fall of all evil, and consequently the establishment of the divine pleasure; and this is what prophets and kings desired to see. It was not only that things were hidden from the wise and prudent, but they were not seen by men who were in the place of the greatest favour with God. It is extraordinary to think that we are more favoured of God than Daniel, David, Solomon or Isaiah, or any of the great prophets and kings: they did not see what we see. They only got an inkling of the heavenly system
What desires must have sprung up in David's heart when he wrote Psalm 110"Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool" -- how he must have desired to understand that! Scripture says that they enquired and searched diligently, but there were hints in the Old Testament of the heavenly, and the spiritual desires of the prophets and kings were so strongly awakened that God comforted them by telling them that these things were not for them but for others who were coming after. They will have their part in the heavenly undoubtedly, but they did not have it then; they did not see these things. We ought to cultivate the thought of the excess of divine favour. How many of us here have the deep sense in our souls that we are much more favoured of God than Abraham? The consciousness of this would keep us from the world. If we want to deliver saints from the world and from earthly-mindedness we must get their minds full of Christ and what is in heaven. These prophets and kings put us to shame, for they did not see what we see. We may apply the principle in another way. How many great and honoured servants of God in the church have not seen what we see! The Spirit of God could not fail to give heavenly desires. All our brethren who are in any way walking in the Spirit must have heavenly desires, but a great many are in such environment that they cannot see heavenly things. What a favour it is to De so endowed and so privileged as to be able to see heavenly things! We are called to a heavenly position, joy and relationship, everything that is for the pleasure of the Father and the Son -- there is nothing higher than that. These verses bring us to the climax of things as Luke presents them, and from this standpoint we approach the latter part of the chapter.
The man among thieves was a. helpless victim. This is not the sphere of divine purpose; in this section we come to a scene of need. If we have been in that heavenly elevation where all is light and blessedness, and have learnt the supplies that are there, we can come down into this scene of ruin and need to act as real neighbours, as those who are able to supply all that is requisite for ruin and poverty. The actual condition here is one of deep and dire need, and that is the condition still, even amongst the people of God, for the man who fell among thieves was no doubt one of them. The Lord could bring heaven's resources down, and the Lord is saying to us now, This is what I want you to be -- a neighbour. We are
tested, not by what is in heaven but by what is in a scene of need. The test is, Have we been in heaven spiritually, and have we the supplies of heaven? The Lord could bring down supplies from heaven to meet the direst need. The Lord wanted, in the power and blessedness of the resources of heaven, to convert this man from a lawyer into a neighbour. It is patterned in the Lord, but it is not to remain there. In the power and blessedness of what is learnt in private we can come out as neighbours in a scene of need. Heaven's resources are boundless, and the Lord would take us into that region to furnish us. How much need there is amongst the brethren! What spirit does it bring out? That of the lawyer saying, This ought not to be and that ought not to be, or the spirit of the One who can bring a supply of everything that is requisite? The priest and the Levite may have been very good men, but they had no resources. But the neighbour had full resources. If we are heavenly, we shall have resources when we come into contact with need. Naturally we are all lawyers. A lawyer will use any light even as to God's mind, and apply it in a legal way, to set himself up, and to expose weakness and failure in others; but he has no resources. This applies to us all in regard to conditions which are not what they ought to be.
The man who fell among thieves had left the place of favour which God had given, and he had got into a state which God never meant him to be in. Can you act as Christ did? Now what can you do for him? This man was cured, carried and cared for; he is the subject of service and care until the Lord comes back. We are to look at the saints as objects of care if we are true neighbours.
The legal man can tell you what is wrong and how it grieves him, but he can bring no remedy. The lawyer came professing to be interested in eternal life, but when he came into the presence of the Lord a very serious question was raised as to his own state as having no resources. Eternal life is connected with the world to come; then divine resources will be made available so that the whole condition of distress and weakness will be met, but have we the supplies by which to meet it now? It needs the grace of heaven. The neighbour came making no demands, but furnishing all that was requisite. We should be ready to act as neighbours to the very end in pure grace. If we have found, like the man who fell among thieves, that we are destitute and that Christ has supplied every need, thatCHAPTER 2
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"Our hearts resort to where
Thou liv'st In heav'n's unclouded rays". CHAPTER 5
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CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10