Extract From an Address.
THE Lord Jesus was down in this world, not only as the Son of the Father, as God manifest in the flesh, as the Messiah to Israel, but we get Him as the Servant. And oh! it is such a wonderful thing to think of Christ down here as a Servant, waiting on the necessities of man. There is nothing dearer to the heart that knows Christ. He “came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.”
He comes before us in this chapter after He has been rejected by Israel. It is all-important, for the understanding of this chapter, to see this.
“At that time.” It was the time of His rejection by Israel. It was the close of His ministry to Israel, and He stands there as the rejected Messiah. There never was a moment of deeper sorrow in the Lord’s pathway through this world—apart from the sorrow of Gethsemane—than when He reached this moment of His history.
He was the Nazarene, the carpenter’s son, the “Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Jehovah had come down into their midst in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and instead of doing Him honor He was in the outside place, rejected.
Had He a place to turn to? Indeed He had. He speaks to the Father, and He speaks as the Son. The Eternal Son was there. He falls back into the divine sovereignty of God in the place of rejection. He says, “I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”
I came here this evening with one thing before my soul—one thing for myself, and one thing for you. BLESSING! Blessing without limitation; blessing without a boundary line. Get hold of it; no matter who you are. Cling to it. Blessing from God; blessing from Christ; blessing through the Holy Ghost; blessing through the Scriptures.... And what is the way into it? You have to become as “a little child.” As knowing nothing, as having nothing; but in simple, confiding faith, believing God’s testimony.... “I thank Thee,” says Jesus. He has perfect acquiescence in the ways of God. You never can have rest in this world unless you have it. Man seeks rest in his surroundings; God gives us rest within. He proposes an internal rest. Why those lines of care? Oh! you know it. In-subjection to God. In-subjection to His will is the source of all the care and unrest around us. It is a great moment in the soul’s history when the soul discovers in God’s presence its utter foolishness and utter incapacity, and bows down in confession of it in His presence.
“All things are delivered unto Me of My Father.” The more your soul apprehends the glory of Christ’s person, the more you are delivered from everything else; and so, unconsciously to yourself, you become superior to everything here.
E. P. C.