SINCE the coming of Jesus into this world, God’s love has had great and wondrous triumphs; and of this there have been countless witnesses. The writer’s present desire, however, is only to draw the reader’s attention to two of them.
In the course of the Lord’s gracious service among men as recorded in the Gospels, He came near to one in whom the enemy seemed to be reigning supreme. When a man is entirely under the power of the wicked one, no matter how galling the bondage, he never seeks for deliverance; so it was with the case we refer to.
He had evidently been a great dread to his neighbors. They had tried to tame him, and tried to bind him, but had failed in both. He was a sad spectacle ― naked and dwelling among the tombs.
When Jesus drew near, instead of seeking deliverance he bade the Deliverer depart. In His sovereign right of mercy, however, the Lord cast the devils out, and the man was afterward found “at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind” (Luke 8:3535Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. (Luke 8:35)). He had not been helplessly struck down as a prisoner at the feet of some mighty conqueror; he was sitting; that is, in the posture of rest. A mighty Conqueror was there; but He was more than Conqueror. He was a gracious Deliverer, and had found His own peculiar delight in freeing this poor slave from the cruel bondage of the wicked one.
All was now set right with him, and he had taken a lowly place before the Lord. Resting “at the feet of Jesus” was a right posture. He was in a right condition ― a condition befitting the company he was in ― he was “clothed.” He was in his “right mind,” both about the evil power that had held him, and the gracious power that had delivered him. And it is very certain that he was not of the same mind with the multitudes around him (picture of this present evil world); they wanted to get rid of the One to whom he owed so much; they preferred their filthy swine to Him, and “besought Him to depart from them;” and it is very serious to find that Jesus fell in with their wish. But it was the very opposite with the man himself.
He had earnest longings for more of the company of his gracious Benefactor; and “besought Him that he might be with Him.” We can well understand him looking pleadingly into the face of Jesus as He was departing, and saying, “Do take me with Thee!” But Jesus had a very special honor to confer upon him. He was going to entrust him with a special mission for Himself, and give him instruction as to the way of carrying it out. “Return to thine own house,” He said, “and show how great things God hath done unto thee.” What a longing look he must have taken at the departing boat! What straining of his eyes until it was entirely out of sight!
To be full of admiring, grateful thoughts of the Saviour is the best state for any of His servants; and no doubt it was in this state that this delivered one entered upon His service. “If He has left me here, instead of taking me with Him, he could say, it is not without telling me why; and surely I have enough to show them. Weak though my speech may be, those who have so long known me, cannot fail to see in me the great things He has done for me.” That is, he was a happy, willing witness of his Deliverer in His absence.
Now look at Paul’s second epistle to the disciples at Corinth (ch. 2), and notice the two words, “by us,” in verse 14. “Thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are to God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.”
Of this “triumph of love” what a striking witness was the apostle! Blinded by the god of this world, he was once making sad havoc of the Church of God, dragging men and women to prison (and even worse than that — to death). But the Lord interfered for his deliverance; and after that, everything for him was changed. Take one example. He was thrust, with Silas, into the prison at Philippi; yet their joy was such that even with bleeding backs they could not refrain from singing praises to God at midnight; and the result was that the jailor and his house were converted. Now when such an exceeding mad persecutor as Saul of Tarsus is not only delivered by Christ, but made a willing sufferer in His happy service, we can surely recognize in that servant another willing witness of LOVE’S GREAT TRIUMPH. Can those who know the reader recognize the same in him? Has the same marvelous lovingkindness moved his heart toward the Saviour? If not, do not forget that your day of opportunity for coming to Him, and bearing a grateful witness of Him, is drawing to its sunset! Once gone, you will never have another.
“Come now to His feet, and lay open thy story, ―
Thy story of sorrow, of guilt, and of shame;
The pardon of sin is the crown of His glory:
‘Tis joy to His heart to be true to His Name.”
But if you have already trusted His love,
“Let everybody see it, that Christ has set you free;
And when it sets them longing, say, JESUS DIED FOR THEE.”
GEO. C.