THE STEPS OF JESUS

1 Peter 2:20-25; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 John 1:6; 2:6

I feel guided, beloved brethren, to say something about the steps of Jesus. I take up the subject with a little hesitation, because of the particular glory connected with the steps and the pathway of the Lord Jesus, but I feel encouraged that it was Peter who brought forward this thought. Peter’s own pathway at times was not particularly steady, but through the grace of Christ he was preserved, as indeed all of us who are here can say. What are we, or what do we have, apart from the grace of God? Even the apostle Paul said, “by God’s grace I am what I am”, 1 Cor.15:10. So I seek help to say something about the precious steps of the Lord Jesus. He has been left for us as a Model; Peter says, “leaving you a model that ye should follow in his steps”. How precious those steps were in the sight of God. Think of the Father’s eye looking down upon the Lord Jesus when He was here in manhood, treading out those steps so steadfastly in His pathway here. We were thinking in the reading of the need for stability. We can never entertain for a moment any thought of the Lord being unstable in His pathway, or wavering or diverging from the path of perfect, blessed obedience to the will of His God and Father. What steps they were! What obedience marked the Lord in every step that He took. Can we say that? Are our steps in moral conformity to the steps of the Lord Jesus?

I begin with the thought of His steps involving a path of suffering, because that is the context of the passage here – He suffered. We may suffer at times because of our own misdeeds and we may as a consequence take a path that leads us into some measure of difficulty, but never so with the Lord Jesus. I speak adoringly of the steps of Jesus. What evenness marked His pathway! It is reflected in the divine thoughts presented in relation to the oblation in the book of Leviticus. The fine flour was mingled with oil, speaking to us of the perfect evenness that marked everything that entered into the pathway and steps of the Lord Jesus, and the evidence along with it that He was here as One who trod those steps in the power of the Holy Spirit. That characterised the whole of the life of the Lord Jesus. There was a particular sense in which He was anointed with oil in view of moving out in service, anointed at His baptism in view of taking up a path in public service, but the whole of His life was characterised by what typically is presented as the anointing with oil. It speaks of the perfect blessedness of all that was carried out through the energy of the Holy Spirit as made manifest in the life of Jesus here.

But His pathway involved suffering. Luke wrote very tenderly of those steps of the Lord Jesus leading forward to the cross. He says of the Lord that “he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem”, Luke 9:51. I often enjoy that thought. If you look at the prophet Isaiah, you will find that he wrote prophetically of Christ that His face was set like a flint (Isa. 50:7), but when we come to Luke’s presentation, he brings in that tender touch of grace in regard of the steps of the Lord Jesus, that He set His face steadfastly. It does not in any way suggest a lesser sense of devotion or perfect obedience, but it brings out the perfect blessedness of the way that the Lord took in those steps. What a Model He is for us! I feel searched as I speak of these holy things. His pathway was characterised by holy steps; what a holy pathway it was. Do we not feel searched, beloved brethren, as we ponder these things? We are in a world that is so characterised by ungodliness, by what is so unacceptable to God. Should we be mingling and mixing with all that characterises this world? That is not according to the Father. The thought is that we should tread our path in the steps of light, following the model set out for us by Christ Himself, whose holy footsteps were so pleasing in the eye of God. Everything that characterised the Lord Jesus was pleasing to the Father’s eye, whether it was the outward steps of His pathway, or whether it was all that marked Him inwardly, even as to His thoughts always being pleasing to God.

Peter says, “who did no sin”. No doubt that is an allusion to the One who trod those steps so faithfully and steadily, free from every trace of sin, but we are also reminded that He “knew not sin”, 2 Cor.5:21. That is like the head of the burnt-offering; Jesus knew no sin. We are also told that “in him sin is not” (1 John 3:5); that is like the inwards of the burnt-offering. All was offered up, the head, the legs and the inwards. Oh, the fragrance of all that was yielded up to God by Jesus in such blessed, perfect acceptance! Those steps led to suffering. He suffered for us. We are speaking of the One, beloved brethren, who laid down His life for us. Should the steps of Jesus not attract your affections? Think of the faithfulness that marked the Lord Jesus amid the suffering. There could never be any feature of the flesh rising up in Him. How searched we are about these things. I would say to my younger brethren that it might be a healthy exercise to take up a notebook and a pen and write down some of the features that you might think would mark the steps of the Lord Jesus. Make sure you make no reference to sin, for He “did no sin”. Make sure you make no reference to the spirit of retaliation or deception, for “neither was guile found in his mouth; who, when reviled, reviled not again; when suffering, threatened not; but gave himself over into the hands of him who judges righteously”. How much we could put down on paper, as helped of the Holy Spirit, concerning the blessed features that marked the Lord Jesus in His pathway here. His deep compassion, and yet also the steadiness that led Him to go the whole way on that suffering path as a Man here in the spirit of dependence, committing Himself into the hands of Him who judges righteously. He was not judged righteously in Pilate’s hall, but the Father has His own perfect judgment and estimation of all that entered into the life and steps of the Lord Jesus here. He went about doing good (Acts 10:38); that is what marked the Lord Jesus. Men sought to find fault in Him, and brought forward false accusers at the time of His unjust trial, but the Holy Spirit caused Peter to say that He went about doing good. Oh, what goodness marked the Lord Jesus; what meekness.

I love to ponder these features. We have been thinking of the Lord Jesus saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), but He could also say, “I am meek and lowly”, Matt.11:29. How blessed to think of the meekness that marked the Lord Jesus, the lowliness that marked His footsteps. Are you ambitious for success in this world? Be careful; it did not mark the Lord Jesus. If you trace the life of Jesus, you could never write ambition in your list of features; it did not mark Him. You could however take note of His desire to return to the Father from whom He had come forth. Think of that great objective which lay in the affections of the Lord Jesus; the joy that lay before Him (Heb.12:2). We may include in our thoughts the joy of His securing the assembly for Himself, but principally what is referred to there is the joy of returning to the Father, the joy of returning to the One whom He had glorified here on the earth. Think of those steps of the Lord Jesus glorifying God on the earth. The steps of men have become so different from the steps of the Lord Jesus. Ambition largely marks this world; competition marks this world. Competition forms no part of Christianity; we are not here to compete with one another. We are here to enjoy happy links in fellowship with one another as those that seek to follow in the steps of Jesus, and as seeking to walk as He walked, we can have opportunity for fellowship with one another in the light and in the love of the truth. How precious these footsteps of Jesus were. It says, He “gave himself over into the hands of him who judges righteously”.

I love this next touch brought in by Peter when he wrote, “who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree”. There are some things in the life of Jesus that are not presented as a model for us. There was a way that He went where we cannot go, and Peter beautifully protects that. After having presented Christ as a Model, Peter wrote, “who himself bore our sins”. Jesus went that way alone. He trod those steps until those hours when He was forsaken on the cross. No other could go there; no other could share that with Him. We cannot follow His steps into that area. Christ suffered there Himself; He bore our sins Himself in His body on the tree. There He knew what it was to be alone, truly alone. He felt it as no other could possibly feel it. You may have felt alone at times, if you have for any particular reason been left alone, or even lost your way. A young child may for a moment get lost; it is a terrible thing to feel alone. But Jesus felt what it was to be alone as no other could feel it. He felt it in all the inward holiness that marked His manhood when He was alone on the cross, forsaken by God. Beloved brethren, in that regard the footsteps of Jesus were unique, and Peter protects that by saying, “who himself”. We could not attempt in any way to follow Him there; how could we? Who else but Christ – the sinless One, in whom sin is not – who else but He could be a sin-offering acceptable in God’s sight when He went that way? Blessed Saviour!

Do you love Him? Do you trust Him? Have you the desire in your heart to follow in His steps? Ask the Holy Spirit for help to do so. That is a needful exercise for us all, because not one of us is capable of pursuing in any way those steps of Jesus according to some human resolve or a mere natural desire to do so. To attempt to merely copy them is sure to bring in failure. You need a help and a power outside of yourself in order to walk in the steps of Jesus and to follow Him as your Model. You cannot be like Him where He was unless you are occupied with Him where He is. The apostle Paul brought in a very interesting touch in the epistle to the Romans when he wrote, “saved in the power of his life”, Rom.5:10. You might say, Am I not saved through the power of His blood? You surely are. Who of us has salvation apart from the power of the blood of Jesus, that blood which has brought in clearance and freedom from the wrath and judgment to come, which has cleansed us by its power? But Paul wrote, “saved in the power of his life”. That is the power for life down here drawn from the One who is in glory, which enables you to walk in the pathway while we are still here. It brings about practical salvation for the believer. We are saved in the power of that life, and the Spirit gives energy in the believer for that life. I have entitlement to life through trusting in the Lord Jesus through faith in Him, but for the living energy to walk in the power of that life, I need the Holy Spirit. He provides that link with Christ where He is. I know of no power to walk here in the footsteps of Jesus apart from living attachment to the Man in the glory, and the energy to be maintained in the pathway through the Spirit dwelling in us. Seek help by the Holy Spirit that you might be preserved in following Christ as the Model. It is a great mistake for people to think that the Lord Jesus was a very good Man here on earth, and that it would be nice to try to be like Him, to add a little bit to society and to the betterment of the world by leading a good life like the life of Jesus. Man’s thinking is sometimes on that level, but I do not think for a moment that that is what Peter was indicating. Rather he was indicating the need to be attached to the One who is now glorified in heaven, One who is our Model, in whose steps we should follow. The power and the energy for the practical working out of that is in the Spirit.

Would you like to be occupied with Jesus and all His perfections? How attractive He is to our hearts and, I believe, to the Father’s heart. Heaven has an interest in the things of which we are speaking now. I am sure that God takes account of the conversations that proceed among His people here; it was so at the end of the Old Testament. God knew those that called upon His name; He did not forget about that. Their names were entered in a book written by God. Such occasions as these are taken account of in heaven. I believe it is pleasing to the Father’s ear to hear Christ well spoken of, but also for Him to be able to hear a committal in our hearts to follow Jesus and to become more like Him, to be morally conformed to Him. We will be finally, practically conformed to Jesus by the changing of our bodies but there is the need for moral conformity now, by taking on the moral features of glory that marked the Lord Jesus. I just say again to the young people and to us all, it is a healthy exercise to start writing some of them out. It might help you in reflection to be more occupied with Him. There are very many. I took the trouble to start writing a few, and the more I wrote, the more it caused my heart to rise up in adoration towards the Saviour. I thought of how glorious He was and is. I say, ‘was and is’ because there is nothing of the value of the precious manhood of the Lord Jesus that has been lost. John says the world was not sufficient to contain the books that could be written (John 21:25), but all that came into expression in Christ here is now enshrined in glory at the Father’s right hand in Christ where He is. We have the blessed service of the Holy Spirit to make that good in our hearts. I carry this impression, beloved brethren, that what the world is insufficient to contain, the assembly will contain. Do you think that there will be any of the precious features of the Lord Jesus that will be lost because the world could not contain the books that might have been written? I think the Holy Spirit implants these treasures in the affections of the saints, so that what is ultimately secured in fulness will be in the bride as the complement of Christ, and she will come out in the expression of Christ’s fulness. There could be no inadequacy in the expression of the fulness. Through the fruit of the Spirit’s service, the expression of the fulness will be thoroughly adequate to express all the features of Christ that will shine out in the coming day.

So Peter wrote, “ye were going astray as sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls”. He gave credit to those to whom he was writing who may have erred and wandered. I have no doubt that Peter carried in his own mind and heart a very active remembrance of his own wandering ways, but now he was firmly under the guidance of “the shepherd and overseer of your souls”. How thankful we ought to be for the shepherd care of the Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, the One who guards our souls. The apostle Paul said that he knew into whose hands he had entrusted a deposit. He wrote to Timothy, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep for that day the deposit I have entrusted to him”, 2 Tim.1:12. Paul was entrusted with much by the Lord in view of his service, but that is not what he was talking about. He was referring to what he had entrusted to the Lord. Have you trusted the Lord with your soul? One of the servants of the Lord said that he believed that when the apostle said that “he is able to keep for that day the deposit I have entrusted to him”, Paul was perhaps referring to the eternal happiness of his soul. Everything that will contribute to the eternal happiness of the believer can be safely entrusted to Christ, the Overseer of our souls, the Shepherd who loves us.

I want to say a little about the reference in Timothy to “the mystery of piety”. Paul used the expression, “confessedly the mystery of piety is great”. Piety in a general sense is not a mystery, nor was it unknown, because the pious walk of many had been well noted before and recorded in the Scriptures. There were many pious men, but the apostle Paul was speaking of something which in its fulness and scope was uniquely expressed by the Lord Jesus Himself as no other could express it. That is why he used these words, “confessedly the mystery of piety is great”. All that God looked for in man was found in perfect expression in Jesus; the depth and fulness of it was expressed in His lowly movements here as a Man. Under the eye of God, it was found in Jesus in perfect and beautiful balance, if we could use the word reverently. No one feature was excessively displayed at the expense of any other, but all in perfect blending which was so pleasing to the eye of God. Oh, how great was the mystery of piety; what a sight for heaven!

Then, “God has been manifested in flesh”. One who in His person remained and remains unchanged, manifested Himself in flesh, came here as Man, taking up a condition and entering into relationships in which He never was before, so that God might be made manifest. Jesus laid down that life of flesh and blood in death for us. Oh, the mystery of piety! What perfection and beauty marked the life of the Lord Jesus. He was never marked by illness, which is a consequence of all that sin has brought in, and in Him sin is not. But He was wearied. Is that not beautiful evidence of the extent of His devoted pursuit of the pathway with all that it involved? He was wearied and sat by the well, but nevertheless did not cease His service according to the will of the Father in compassion for a poor woman. What compassion marked the steps of the Lord Jesus. What a mystery is the mystery of piety; what a blessed scope and fulness and depth there is in it! God manifest in flesh in a Man here; not a mere man, a real Man. I say that with holy regard for the Lord Jesus. He was not a mere man, but He was a real Man in conditions like ourselves, but sin apart. He was where sin abounded, but in those conditions He was found in all the moral perfection of His manhood here, pursuing those steps pleasing to God.

The apostle also wrote that God was “justified in the Spirit”. Everything that the Lord did and said, and all His steps, were in perfect accord and consonance with the feelings and desires of the Holy Spirit. The power of the blessed Spirit characterised Him. Then Paul went on to write, “has appeared to angels”. Think of the angels looking down upon Jesus here – little wonder that there was such a chorus at His birth, at the incoming of the Lord Jesus, as the angels took account of what had never been seen before. God had never been manifest in flesh before. It was a sight that angels had never previously witnessed. I have no doubt that angels saw Abraham and Moses, David and Solomon, and many others who are referred to in the Holy Scriptures. But never once had the angels seen a blessed Man here below who was none other than God in His person, although here in a condition in which as Man He could bring out all that was to be known and expressed of God. He was seen by the angels, and then we are also told by Matthew and by Mark that He was ministered to by angels (Matt.4:11; Mark 1:13). Think of the Lord Jesus feeling hunger during those days of His temptation and the extent of all that He endured so perfectly during that time. Angels came and ministered to Him. Think of that – holy angels drawing near to serve that blessed Man. What a witness to a Man in all the essence of piety here under the eye of God, as He was served by holy angels. What a contemplation for our hearts, beloved brethren.

Then “preached among the nations”; we can give thanks for that. We have often noted that these things are not necessarily set out in the sequence of their occurrence, but Christ “has been preached among the nations”. Think of the gospel that reached into this part of the world, once cherished and valued, but now I fear to quite an extent despised and opposed. Not far from where we live, there was a preacher recently who was preaching in the street and quoting scriptures. Objections were raised against him, the police were called and asked to remove him, and they did so. Think of such an attempt to prohibit the announcement of the word of God. It was witnessed by others who were there that the objection was not because of the noise of the preaching, because there were others playing music adjacent to where this was taking place which was louder. But despite the opposition, Christ has been “preached among the nations”. Thank God for the universal outshining of the glory of His grace. What a testimony! Have you trusted in the Lord Jesus? There are many young ones here; I trust you all have formed a link in love with Christ. You may feel you do not love the Lord as much as you should do. Mr Darby said so too. You will find in his ministry that he wrote that he feared he did not love the Lord as much as he should do, but he was conscious that the Lord loved Him, and too he was conscious that he knew the Lord he loved¹. I enjoyed reading that expression. I may not love Him as much as I should, but I know the Lord that I love. I can trust Him, the Overseer of my soul, the Shepherd who will never fail. What a Lord He is, what a Master. How blessed He is!

Lastly it says, “believed on in the world, has been received up in glory”. That is where Jesus is. He is there at the Father’s right hand in glory. I often think that there is at least a double testimony to His presence there. It bears witness to the entire satisfaction of the Father with all that Christ has done, so that He has set Him down at His own right hand. Then in addition to that, it bears a testimony to the Father’s peculiar delight in Him, so that He is the object of His love and He has placed Him there beside Him, at His own right hand in the supreme place of honour. How beautiful it is to think of Jesus received up in glory.

We read these two verses in 1 John. In verse 6 of chapter 1, there is a little bit of a negative suggestion. Sometimes John takes up that point of view in his writings, to emphasise that if we are going on with what is dark, and out of keeping with the light, then it is not pleasing to God. That is something to take home to our hearts. You will know your own steps, I know mine. You will know if your steps are always pleasing in the sight of God, if they are in any way conforming to the perfect blessedness of the steps of the Lord Jesus. Do you sometimes tread a pathway that is divergent? Part of my exercise in coming here was that we should be preserved in stability. If you are not walking in the steps of Jesus, you will not be preserved in stability, and you are in danger of losing your way. Take heed, and take heed in time. John says so clearly, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practise the truth”. I do not wish to say more about that, except to bring out the point and the appropriateness of the word written by John. We may be leading a life of deception, lying, not walking according to the truth that has engaged us. Our pathways may be out of conformity with it, and we may lose our way in the darkness.

But then John writes in chapter 2, verse 6, “He that says he abides in him ought, even as he walked, himself also to walk”. What a beautiful exercise to take up and seek the practical help of the Holy Spirit to fulfil, that as Jesus walked, so might we walk. That is not as merely copying Jesus. I say that again because I am convinced that if it is my objective to copy the path of Jesus, I will not have the power to fill it out. I need to draw from the living energy and the power of the life of the One who is in glory if I am to be like Him where He was, if I am to walk in the light and thereby find the privilege and joy of walking with happy links in fellowship with others who are in the light. There is not only the thought of walking in fellowship with others, but it says where we read in chapter 1, “If we say that we have fellowship with him”. Think of having fellowship in relation to divine Persons. John in writing this epistle says that this was the character of their fellowship; they had fellowship “indeed with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ”, 1 John 1:3. What a high and dignified thought is fellowship. We often enjoy the value and encouragement of practical fellowship with one another, but to walk in harmony with the Father and the Son – how blessed that is. In a measure it was unique to the apostles, for their fellowship was distinctive and unique, but John said that he was writing these things so that by extension we might come into the good of this too.

May we be encouraged, beloved brethren. It is a very attractive thing to ponder the steps of Jesus. They are treasured in heaven, and so will be the lives of those that walk in His steps. Such lives will be taken account of by heaven as pleasing in the sight of God, and delightful to the Holy Spirit. They will bear their own fruit, for the operations of the Spirit bear their fruit. There is great need of fruit being yielded to God as a consequence of treading a pathway here that liberates our affections and gives us substance in our souls as being occupied with the Man in the glory. It enables us to yield something that goes up as a sweet odour and is fragrant to God Himself.

May it be so to His glory.

Address at London

J.Laurie

15 March 2014