THE MYSTERY OF PIETY
J. Spinks
I was freshly impressed by the wealth of this wonderful verse, “the mystery of piety”. The incoming of Christ has altered everything for God and for man. Think of all that preceded the incarnation, the awfulness of man’s condition away from God, every generation displaying the same features of fallen humanity. Thank God we can trace the line of faith, running through like a golden thread, but in general the situation seemed irretrievable. Then Christ comes on the scene—what a difference! For the first time there was a man on the earth who fully met all the divine requirements, who fully glorified God in every step, every thought and every deed; what a wonderful contemplation for our souls—“The holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God”, Luke 1: 35. Think of the whole heavenly host being affected by the glory of it. They had witnessed the mighty operations of God in creation and rejoiced in it, but this was incomparably greater. It has been said that the angels saw their Creator for the first time.
What a wonderful message was conveyed to the shepherds by the angel, “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. And this is the sign to you—ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger”, Luke 2: 10–12. I feel the angelic host could not restrain themselves when they came to that because it immediately goes on to say, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men” (Luke 2: 13, 14). How affecting it is! God was there. God was approaching man in a babe. As the hymn says,
‘Nor yet in triumph passing,
But human infancy!’ (Hymn 188)
Was there ever such a sign as this? A wonderful assurance that there would not only be glory to God, but also good pleasure in men. Think of the transformation from the time of the flood, when God had to close up the whole scene in judgment because of the incorrigible nature of man’s heart. Noah being a type of Christ as putting everything on a new footing on the ground of the burnt-offering, a reference to the precious death of Christ. It says, “Jehovah smelled the sweet odour”, Genesis 8: 21. It is wonderful to see that God has a basis now to approach men in grace; as we sang in our hymn,
‘His hand, His house, His heart are free,
Because Thy work is done’. (Hymn 431)
So that everything has been altered by the wonderful fact that “God has been manifested in flesh”. It goes on to say, “has been justified in the Spirit”. The Holy Spirit came upon the Lord at His baptism at the Jordan, but He was imbued with the Spirit from the womb. His whole being was of a completely different character to sinful man. Think of the Father’s eye being upon Him with intense pleasure as He grew into boyhood and manhood. There is very little recorded in scripture of these hidden years, but we can be sure they were treasured by God. There was holy perfection at every stage of growth. Then as He was baptised at the Jordan He was publicly acclaimed by the Father, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matthew 3: 17. He was justified in the Spirit. The Spirit came upon that holy, sinless, blessed Man who committed Himself to the waters of baptism knowing full well what it involved.
He knew that His pathway of suffering love would lead to the cross but that did not deter Him. He went about doing good, for God was with Him. We see Him in Luke 4 going into the synagogue in Nazareth and standing up to read. What holy dignity marked His movements; everything He did was in the power of the anointing. It says, “having unrolled the book he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor; he has sent me to preach to captives deliverance, and to the blind sight, to send forth the crushed delivered, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And having rolled up the book, when he had delivered it up to the attendant, he sat down”, Luke 4: 17–20. That was a deliberate action. We know that scripture goes on to speak about judgment but it was not the time for that. The Lord was inaugurating the great system of grace which has run on to the present time; it is God’s dispensation which is in faith. Think of God looking down each dispensation, testing man in every conceivable way and finding that all have come short of His glory; but here we have something introduced by the holy, sinless Son of God; the great principle of grace. How wonderful; everything is on a different footing now, grace has come in in Christ.
It is all based, of course, on redemption being accomplished but here it is in one blessed Man. God was there in Him. It says, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their offences”, 2 Corinthians 5: 19. The grace of a Saviour God was there in Christ as He went about doing good, healing all who came to Him, bringing the balm of Gilead to poor stricken humanity. In John 8 we see a woman taken in adultery, about to be stoned in accordance with the law. The self-righteous Pharisees sought to find a pretext to accuse the Lord, but what is the Lord’s answer? He stoops down and writes on the ground.
Think of that wonderful stoop into manhood by the Lord Jesus; in the doing of it He set every other man aside. That blessed Man was under the eye of God and every other man was put out of court. No wonder these men went out one by one beginning from the elder ones until the last. It has been said that the first stoop put man out and the second stoop retained the woman in the presence of the Saviour, involving His precious death. The Lord says to her, “Has no one condemned thee?” she replies, “No one, sir”. Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn thee—go, and sin no more”, John 8: 10, 11. Is that not the crux of the glad tidings? Here was the only man who had a right to cast a stone and He brings in grace. “Neither do I condemn thee”. Of course, it all anticipated His death, even His perfect life would never atone for one sin. He could have gone back to heaven having glorified God on the earth, but it would not have atoned for the sins of you and me; he had to go into death. How wonderful that He was prepared to go that way. What a glorious Saviour!
So I return to 1 Timothy, “has been justified in the Spirit, has appeared to angels, has been preached among the nations”, well, that brings us in. The Lord was sent initially to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, who had a prior claim, but in God’s mercy the gospel has come right to where we are as those of the nations; we, who were ‘once afar off, having no hope, and without God in the world’. I am thankful for that; that God in His grace has turned to the nations and we have come in through mercy’s door. I think Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9) is an example of one who came in on this line. He was wholly disqualified as of the line of Saul, who was bitterly opposed to David and sought to kill him. He had no rights, as none of us have, but the mercy of David, who is a wonderful type of Christ, was extended to him. Think of the feelings of David, “Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (2 Samuel 9: 1). The next question David asks is, “Where is he?”. Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar” (2 Samuel 9: 4). Now that is really a place of no pasture, that is where we were. Not only were we disqualified from the blessing but we were in a place of no pasture. In the world outside there is no pasture, no food for the soul. There may be outward attractions, but it all ends in disappointment and disillusionment, and often disaster. So David sent and fetched him. I love to think of the way he greets him by saying just that one word, “Mephibosheth”.
You know, the Lord knows each one of us here and He would make a personal appeal; that is what I want to come to in this gospel. The incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ has made a great difference for God and for myriads of persons like Mephibosheth; but has it made a difference for you and me? Have we got forgiveness of sins but are still going on in our own way? These things are very testing, because we do not just want to get the blessing, we would surely want to be attached to this blessed Man who has done so much to secure us. Mephibosheth says, “Behold thy servant!” And David said to him, “Fear not; for 1 will certainly shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake”. That is the gospel, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then it says, “he did eat continually at the king’s table”. That is the change the gospel makes, from a place of no pasture to the king’s table. So that it is not only a matter of having our sins forgiven, blessed as that is, but it is a matter of coming into the wealth of Christianity. We were speaking in the reading about the Lord’s supper, that is for us the king’s table, the entrance into a great system of wealth and blessing. What Mephibosheth got was merely a type and shadow of the fulness of the blessings of Christianity. I would like to appeal to every one of us, that we may all come into the glory and blessedness of all that God has in mind for us.
The verse in Timothy goes on to say, “has been believed on in the world”. Thank God that He has been believed on by most, if not all in this room. I trust that everyone here has put their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; it is an absolute necessity for salvation, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved”, Acts 16: 31. There is no other name under heaven given amongst men by which we must be saved. That is the starting point; the next thing is, “has been received up in glory”. Would you not like to have a conscious living link with the Man in glory? We get in Romans, “we shall be saved in the power of his life”, Romans 5: 10. It is His precious death that atones for our sins, but “saved in the power of his life” means that the life of that glorious risen Man can be transmitted to the humblest and weakest believer who seeks to be here for the will of God. I know a little about it, and thank God, most here would say the same, but we would all surely like to know more of it.
Let us have our hearts attuned to the glory of Christ; let us allow the Spirit to open up His glories to us. These times we have together are very profitable for that, but then there is our own individual link, our own personal communion when we are apart from the brethren; maybe under pressure or temptation. The Lord is as real now as He was then, and His love is just as strong. The love that took Him into death is a love that will support you, dear young believer, in whatever situation you are in, and He will never let you down. It says of the Lord, “having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end” (John 13: 1); that means, loved them through everything. And finally, we also will be received up in glory, to be for ever with the Lord; is that not wonderful? He is already there, waiting for us.
As we had in our hymn,
‘Yet it must be. Thy love had not its rest
Were thy redeemed not with Thee fully blest;
That love that gives not as the world, but shares
All it possesses with its love co-heirs’. (Hymn 249)
It raises the question, what is included in the Lord’s possessions? Everything! He has been made both Lord and Christ, the inheritance belongs to Him, and we are coheirs. It means He shares everything He has with those His love has secured. What a blessing! What a wonderful prospect lies ahead of us, glory with Christ, enjoying everything that belongs to Him. As it says in that beautiful passage in Romans, “if children, heirs also—heirs of God, and Christ’s joint heirs; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him”, Romans 8: 17. The recompense far outweighs any little suffering we may be called upon to pass through—as Paul goes on to say, “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us”, Romans 8: 18. I trust the Lord will draw us into this sphere of glory and blessing, all in association with Himself. May the Lord bless the word.
Preaching at Dundee
18 December 2005
Edited and Published by J. Strachan, 59 Frederick Street, Dundee, DD3 9DE, Scotland Printed by Crystal Stationery, 22 Western Road, Billericay, Essex CM12 9DZ, (T) (01277) 650661