PREACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD
A.Martin
Philip was a wonderful vessel whom the Lord had used in Samaria. He had been preaching in Samaria and there had been great results from his work. Philip was not an apostle, he was a man who was selected as being filled with the Holy Spirit and of good report, but he was one who did things and he did what came to his hand to do. That was how he first came to the attention of the apostles. Something needed to be done, and Philip was one of those chosen to do it. But he had this message to leave his work and go to the desert. Philip was an unquestioning servant of the Lord. He did not argue about that, he went to the desert and he came across a man, a man who had felt his need to come and worship at Jerusalem. This man was a great man, he came from Ethiopia and he had a lot of resources. Indeed the whole of the treasury of Ethiopia was under his hand, and yet he had a need. He could not remain in Ethiopia. He had a need and he knew that his need was in relation to God. It led him to come to Jerusalem to worship. Has anybody here a need? Has anybody here never felt a need in relation to God? People may persuade themselves that they have no need in relation to God, people we meet daily, people we work with, people at school may not even think about that, they may just dismiss the whole matter. Have you ever felt that you have a need in relation to God? My friend, if you have never felt that, believe me you have, you have a very great need.
Do you know that the day is coming when you and I and all of us are going to have to meet God? Does that worry you? There was a time when that worried me a great deal. I was going to have to meet God and what could I say to God, and what would God say to me? What would He require from me? But this man had a need and he went to Jerusalem to worship. What did he find in Jerusalem? Did he find the answer to his need? He obviously did not find the answer to his questions, because he came away from Jerusalem with his Bible, and he was reading his Bible and he did not understand it. He had a need and he did not understand what he read.
One thing I would say is, if you do not understand your Bible, do not stop reading it. When you read your Bible, first of all turn to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to show you something out of the scriptures and then read it, and read it slowly. If you ask in genuineness and you read slowly, you will find that before very long, something will come into your soul that you have never seen before, some glory of Jesus will come into your soul. Keep reading your Bible.
This man was reading the prophet Isaiah and he must have been reading it for quite a while because he had come to this wonderful chapter 53. Philip joined the chariot and he said, “Dost thou then know what thou art reading of? And he said, How should I then be able unless some one guide me?” Who was the One of whom Isaiah spoke? There is one Man who is the key to the whole of scripture. When you read the scriptures remember that, that the whole of scripture speaks of Him. It does not matter where you read, Old Testament or New Testament, it speaks of one blessed Man. Here in Isaiah it was directly speaking of Him. Others have pointed out that the theme of the Old Testament is Christ. If you take the first five books of the Bible you find that the central theme is the Ark, and what is centred on the Ark, and how the children of Israel are held in relation to the Ark. That is the theme; it is Christ. If you read the historical books you find that the central theme there is David: what a wonderful figure of Christ David is. You read the Psalms, and you find that there is a testimony there to what God has in mind in a Man, a Man of His choice, the One whom He has established on Zion, the hill of His holiness, the righteous Man. You find the Son of Man; it is all Christ throughout the Psalms. You read the Prophets and you find the spirit of the prophets is the testimony of Jesus. It is Jesus throughout the scriptures.
Philip says, “Dost thou then know what thou art reading of?” The man says, “concerning whom does the prophet say this?”. The whole of the scriptures has one glorious subject and that is Christ. This was Jesus in His humiliation. He says here, “He was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb in presence of him that shears him, thus he opens not his mouth”. What glories of Jesus are coming out here. You say, surely it is the wickedness of man that is there, but it was the glories of Jesus that allowed Himself to be led as a sheep to the slaughter. Think of that, knowing what was before Him, knowing what was in the hearts of men, and knowing what was in the mind of God, He allowed Himself to be led. Think of it, the Son of God was led! Look in the gospels at the number of references to the Lord Jesus being led. It says they led Him away to Pilate. Think of the Lord Jesus being led away, they led Him from the garden, they led Him to Pilate, think of Him being led by men in their wickedness and hatred as, fulfilling the will of God, He allowed Himself to be led. What a blessed object for our contemplation, the One whose very word made them fall away backwards to the ground. He said, “I am He”, and they fell backwards to the ground. What power was in that glorious One and yet He allowed Himself to be led. Wicked men led him, but He was led above all by the will of His God and Father. He was led as a sheep to slaughter. Think of the perfection of that type! In Isaiah it says, “as a lamb”, bringing out the tenderness, but here it is the sheep, the full maturity that was seen in Jesus. There was nothing diminutive in the offering of Jesus, it was a full thought, “he was led as a sheep to the slaughter”. The sensitivity of the Lamb comes out here in the presence of him that shears him, “as a lamb is dumb in presence of him that shears him, thus he opens not his mouth”. Think of the Lord Jesus submitting to the will of His God and Father; He did that throughout His life. He submitted to His Father’s will. That is what characterised Him as coming into manhood, He had actually come into a condition in which it would not have been right to exercise the will of His own, certainly not a will that was contrary to that of His God and Father, but He submitted to His Father. He was as the “lamb is dumb in presence of him that shears him, thus he opens not his mouth. In His humiliation His judgment has been taken away”. Think of His humiliation! Beloved, we see man’s humiliation and that is a result of sin, but think of His humiliation, it was a result of moral excellence and perfection. In His humiliation His judgment has been taken away. Men considered it was not even worth giving Him a fair trial; His judgment was taken away. He was not given the normal rights that a man is given; His judgment was taken away. Think of all that the Lord Jesus went through in His sufferings here, “in His humiliation, His judgment has been taken away, and who shall declare his generation?” Who shall declare it? Is there a generation like that? There was never another like Him, there could not be. He stands alone, unique, “who shall declare His generation?” He is incomparable and no other could be found with Him in these circumstances. There is no other with Him. Then His life is taken from the earth.
Think of that life! His life is taken from the earth. The prophet says, “he was cut off from the land of the living”, and that is what Israel would have seen, that is what was seen publicly. He was hung upon the cross, and He was crucified. He was cut off out of the land of the living. Publicly that life had ended. Men said that that was the end, “when will He die and His Name perish?” When He was crucified they were glad that He was cut off from the land of the living. But in the New Testament it does not say that. “His life was taken from the earth”. Where was that life taken? Was it possible that that life could be extinguished? Would God allow such a life to be cut off and be no more? Would God allow such a thing to happen? He went into death, having done the great work of atonement, but it was not possible that He should be held by its power. Think of the work of Jesus as going into death.
This does not here refer directly to the work of Jesus in His atoning sufferings, but we have the light of that. Doubtless that came into what Philip announced to him, “opening his mouth and beginning from that scripture, announced the glad tidings of Jesus to him”. What are the glad tidings of Jesus – that that blessed One whose moral excellence had been seen in such an amazing way, had taken upon Himself the whole matter which stood out between man and God. Are you conscious of the fact that there is something between man and God? There was a great issue that needed to be resolved between man and God. Are you happy about the fact that the day is coming when we are going to meet God? If you are not happy why is it? Is it because there is an issue between man and God that you have not faced in your own soul? My friend, do not let that continue, there is no reason for that to continue. The One whom we have spoken of here whose life was taken from the earth, laid the basis on which that issue has been met fully, not just for your satisfaction, but for God’s. He has laid the basis in His work when He was here upon that cross of shame, men had done their worst, and expressed their hatred in the most violent way against the Lord Jesus and there He was lifted up between heaven and earth, and there as a Man in holy perfection, He took upon Himself the whole question of sin and sins. The sins of all who trust in Him were borne in His body on the cross when God expressed His holy judgment against sin. How wonderful that is! Think of it, those three hours of darkness He bore God’s His holy judgment against sin. Remember that cry, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” Why should He be forsaken? He had been the object of divine pleasure. We have been speaking about Him today, as the One who was supremely the object of the Father’s love. At that time, those three hours of darkness, shall I tell you something? He was the object of God’s judgment. Can you think about it? That One who had so perfectly glorified Him upon the earth should there be held up and become the focus of God’s judgment. All the feelings that God had against sin, all His holy wrath against sin, were borne by Jesus. He was lifted up there, He gave Himself so that God should have a righteous basis on which judgment of sin could be met. God could not have expressed His wrath upon a perfect Man otherwise but Jesus was made sin. As lifted up on the cross, He came under the curse of the law. He bore that curse. Think of God as writing into the law through the pen of Moses saying, “cursed is everyone that is hanged upon the tree”. The Lord Jesus lifted up on that terrible cross came under the curse of the law, though He were perfect in Himself, though He had magnified the law and made it honourable, but he was made sin. God could direct His judgment against sin upon Him. Oh what a Saviour! Think of Him going that way. Why did He do it? He did it for you and for me. He became the object of God’s hatred of sin for you and for me, because if He had not done so, you and I would have had to bear the judgment for our sins eternally. There would have been no way out. The only answer was in a perfect One, the perfect Man, who there upon the cross gave Himself in order that all who look to Him should be free of their sins.
Have you looked upon Him there? Have you seen Him there upon the cross, the One who endured the wrath of God for those three hours? At the end of those three hours He committed His spirit to the Father and He laid down His life, He went into death, and then He shed His precious blood. Think of the blood of Jesus being shed. Why was the blood shed? The blood shed is evidence that the life has been laid down. The shed blood is the testimony to the fact that the life has been laid down and the blood is precious in the sight of God because is shows how perfectly acceptable that life was to God. There was nothing in it with which God could find fault. Some men would find fault with Him but a repeated testimony is that they said, “he does all things well”. Pilate said, “I find no fault in this man”. That was not through lack of looking or searching for it. Another went even further, “this man has done nothing amiss”. God’s testimony is greater, “in whom I have found my delight”. Think of the testimony of God, and that life in which God had found His delight, was laid down in death and His precious blood was shed upon the cross, and that blood remains before God as a testimony to the fact that that life has been laid down in answer to God’s holy and righteous claims. He had no need to lay His life down for Himself, it was in answer to God’s holy and just claims upon man, upon whom the whole question of sin had come. Think of the blood of Jesus!
We often look at the figure of old, the tabernacle system – if you were to approach the tabernacle system you would go into the courtyard, a great courtyard there was, and the first thing before you was a brazen altar, and that was where sacrifices were offered. You and I, as common people, would not be able to go any further than that. But if you were a priest you could. You could serve at the altar and there the sacrifices were offered up, each speaking of the Lord Jesus. But then beyond the altar was the laver; the priest had to wash his hands and feet and he could go into the holy place. The holy place was as far as he could go. But the high priest could, once a year, go through the final barrier, and when he went in it was in relation to atoning for the sins of the people, and he went in, through that veil into the holy of holies. What was in his hands was the blood, speaking of the blood of Jesus. There is no other way in which we can get into the presence of God, and he went in with the blood. He sprinkled that blood there upon the mercy-seat, and over the mercy-seat were the cherubim, and the cherubim’s faces were turned towards the mercy-seat. It is wonderful to think of. The cherubim stand for God’s rights, and their faces were turned towards the mercy-seat. There was a place where God’s rights were met – the blood was sprinkled on the mercy-seat. They saw the blood, it was there where God’s claims were met and God sets forth Christ in this way. He sets Him forth as a mercy-seat. It shows that God’s rights have been met. His rights have been met as to the past, involving His forbearance in respect of the passing by of the sins gone before, and His rights met as to the present, showing that God is just and the justifier of Him that is of the faith of Jesus. We see it there in the mercy-seat. What is the mercy-seat? It is Jesus. Christ Himself having accomplished the work of redemption, the blood is there, it has been shed and is there before God, and every divine claim has been met.
But something else happened, the priest sprinkled that blood before the mercy-seat. He sprinkled it not only on the mercy-seat, but before it, and he sprinkled it not once but seven times. Why did he do that? So that you should have full assurance. Through the work of Jesus we are not brought into a system of barriers such as the tabernacle had, but the way has been made by which the entrance into the presence of God Himself can be known, and it is sprinkled seven times so that you should be fully assured about it, that there should be no doubt with you that the work of Jesus is sufficient and the blood of Jesus is sufficient for God. Have you faith in the blood of Jesus? Have you seen the work that He has done upon the cross, and seen the blood that was shed, and known and embraced in your soul that that blood was shed for you? Do you know that if you have not put your faith in the One who shed His precious blood, you have not even begun? On what basis will you appear before God when we all appear before Him? On what basis will you stand then? Beloved, there is a sure foundation, a refuge of the lost, Christ the Rock of our salvation, the One who has shed His blood and in the shedding of His precious blood we have the basis on which we can be free before God, with no trace of sin. It is even more than that. When God justifies a person, it is more than just wiping out the sins; it is that the person comes over to God’s side and God says, I am going to support this person. You might do something – you might damage my car. I can say, do not worry about it, I will not say anything about it, maybe I will forgive you. That is a precious thing if I go that far, but every time I see my car I will see the mark on it. I have not removed it, and if at any time after that somebody may comment on it, I could not deny that it had happened. But justification goes further than that, that through the work of Jesus our sins are no longer accounted to us, Jesus has borne them all away and God supports the person. It says, Who shall bring an accusation against God’s elect, it is God who justifies. God is the one against whom we have sinned, and God justifies, He takes your side. Think of that. God is taking your side. It is not even the Lord Jesus who justifies; it is Christ who has died, He has done the work, but it is God who justifies, the great Judge of all, He is the One who justifies. Think of the blessed God going as far as that, as to take your side, even though you have offended Him so much, and done so much against Him. Yet through the work of Jesus He has a just and perfect basis upon which He can justify you and set you up in righteousness before Him, so that God is just and the justifier of Him that is of the faith of Jesus. It is based on the work of Jesus, on the shedding of His precious blood.
The eunuch read, “His life is taken from the earth”. The Lord Jesus went into death, He was buried. When the Lord Jesus was buried, that was really a sign that the condition of manhood that He had come into was put out of sight from God. He came into flesh and blood condition; that is the condition we are in, He came into this condition, and He was buried. In the burial of Jesus we see that God has ended one kind of man altogether and we see that He has put him out of sight. You say, Jesus Himself being put out of sight from God? If the One who had pleased God so much upon the earth was put out of sight, how right it is that every man must be put out of sight. The eunuch speaks about that, if such a One’s life was taken from the earth, he said there is only one answer for me. He said “Behold water; what hinders my being baptised?” I have to go out of sight. If He was put out of sight, then I have to go out of sight. But the life of Jesus was taken from the earth. That life continues, it continues in perfection. In the previous chapter we see Stephen, a man who had a glimpse of that Man in His glorious life in heaven. The life of Jesus was taken from the earth, the perfection, the uniqueness of it was such that He could not remain in death. God would not have it so, God’s feelings for Him were so great that He could never be satisfied with Jesus in death. He raised Him up by His own glory and exalted and set Him at His own right hand. That life was taken from the earth, that life is there before God for His eternal delight and pleasure, that life upon which God Himself satisfies His affections constantly and will eternally do so, was taken from the earth in order to be continued before Him.
Isaiah goes further than that, he says, “he shall see a seed”. His generation is Himself alone, but He shall see a seed. That means that there are others who are coming into view who are of His own order, who have their origins in Himself. It is like the corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying, it abides alone. When He was here in the days of His flesh, He abode alone, but He died, and “if it die it brings forth much fruit”. “He shall see a seed, He shall prolong His days”. How those days are prolonged upon the earth, they are prolonged in lives of men and women like you and me. Those who have their faith and trust in Him who know what it is to have the gift of the Holy Spirit and who seek to live here in the light of the Man in the glory, those are the ones in whom you see those days prolonged, His seed. That life which was taken from the earth and is treasured in heaven, is to be seen here in character in the seed that remains.
We see that in this man. He went into the waters of baptism and as he came up out of the waters he no longer needed the servant who was with him. Philip was taken away, he had other work to do. The Spirit of God would say, Philip that is done, now you have some more work to do, but the eunuch, what does he do now? Does he go back to Jerusalem? The city that had rejected the Lord? No! He has a link with a Man in the glory. There is another centre now in his life. He went on his way rejoicing. Would he ever go on his way rejoicing if his life was centred in things of earth? Believe me, my friend, I can tell you that the things on earth will only bring disappointment. You may get temporary pleasure, but the things of the earth will only bring disappointment. Even the greatest things naturally will come to an end. But this man went on his way rejoicing, he had a link with a Man in the glory. He had a link with a Man who had accomplished the work of redemption, who had solved every matter for Him and for God and now he was to live here in a life of testimony, a life of responsibility, connected with a Man who had once been here, who was rejected from this scene and who was now enthroned in glory. Beloved, may that be the portion of each one of us. For His Name’s sake.
EDINBURGH
8 June 2002