THE SERVICE OF CHRIST
[p. 185] THE SERVICE OF CHRIST
The interest of this scripture is that it furnishes an epitome of the service of Christ. It is what could not have been invented by man; it could only be given to us by one who had divine knowledge of things, that is, by the Spirit of God.
Another point comes out in connection with that; one sees in the passage how completely all the power of evil, everything that oppresses man, was under the hand of the Lord. We get devils — a legion of devils; bodily infirmity in the case of the woman; then the pressure of death in the house of the ruler of the synagogue. All these are things which affect man. In the case of the daughter of Jairus, it was those who were living who were affected by death. The maid had passed away, but those who were living remained under the pressure of death. The power of evil and the pressure of death are weighing on man in the world; but we find in the Lord complete authority over all. He came here in the grace of God, with complete power over all that afflicted man, the blessed expression of divine grace toward man. The grace of God that brought salvation to all men had appeared; it was ushered in by the presence of the Lord Jesus here upon earth. There went virtue out of Him, and healed all.
I speak of that to give a general idea of the passage. It begins with the demoniac, and terminates with the raising of the daughter of Jairus. I say one word in regard of the last incident, because I shall not refer to it again; it no doubt carries us on to the time when Christ will come again. It is then that He will appear in the power of life and raise up the daughter of Israel. But I want to occupy your attention with what comes out in the case of the demoniac and of the woman with the issue of blood. I refer to what came out on the part of the Lord. It is a great thing to get a true thought of Christ,
[p. 186] and of what appertains to Him, because it tends to increase our appreciation of Christ. We want not only to know who Christ is, but to apprehend all that is vested in and belongs to Him in regard to man. We find out thus what the value of Christ is in regard to man.
Now we see in the case of the demoniac the ability of Christ to bring everything to an issue — I might put it in other words — we have the power and authority of Christ to resolve the question of good and evil, to disentangle what has become entangled. The effect of sin and the power of Satan having come into this world has been to a large extent to entangle good and evil. If you look abroad in the world, you will admit that it is a scene of moral confusion. Well, no one can think that confusion is according to God; God is not the author of confusion; I think it would be a poor mind that would attribute confusion to God. But it does not take much perception to see that the world is full of confusion; everything is mixed up. If you look around the little circle which is known to you, you will see any amount of confusion. What I mean by confusion is the mixing up of good and evil. In any circle of society you may see remains of what is of God, and good, natural affection is in the world, intelligence, and conscience on the part of man. I am not now speaking of converted men; but of man as man, and in him you see many beautiful things. Amiability and the like; the Lord looked upon the young ruler and loved him. You see natural affection in a mother and her children; with children you often see a large measure of innocence — I do not mean absolutely, but in a way. There are qualities in the world which are of God, traces of His hand in the world, and no one can deny their beauty. I pity the person who would. I have often thought that a saving clause in the world, as it is, is the presence of natural affection. It is the one thing which prevents the world being a kind of hell. No one can deny that these things are beautiful in their place, and that they are of God. But if I look at man as he is, these things are mixed up with an evil will; they are distorted [p. 187] and marred by will, temper, lust, pride, and arrogance; so that wherever you look abroad in the world, you cannot fail to see the terrible mixing up of good and evil.
That has been the work of the devil, just as in one of the parables of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13), the Lord referred to what would take place; He had sowed good seed in His field, but an enemy had sowed tares, so that there might be a mixture and the Lord said the mixture was to go on until the time of harvest; then the disentanglement would come. I only refer to it to show that entanglement is the work of the enemy.
Now with Christ is perfect authority and power to disentangle good and evil; that is, the Lord can bring, and will bring, everything to an issue. That is what God has been doing all along the line, and the last act in this disentanglement will be the great white throne, and in result, good and evil will each find their own place. What we find at the end of the Revelation is, on the one hand, the lake of fire in which are the devil and his angels, the beast, the false prophet, death, hell, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life; but, on the other hand, we have presented to us a new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. This shows the great end which God purposes to bring about, and for which He is working: the complete disentanglement of good and evil.
Now we see that coming out here in principle in Christ. The demoniac was possessed of a legion of devils, but they were cast out; and that was not all — they went into the swine. Of course the scene is figurative, and really represents what occurred in connection with the coming of Christ into this world. What came to pass was that there was a little company of His people out of whom the devils had been cast. Amongst that company was Mary Magdalene, and she was representative of many another. They had been delivered from the power of Satan by the grace of the Lord, whilst the power of evil entered into the great mass of the Jews and hurried them down to destruction. The advent of Christ [p. 188] into the world brought everything to an issue with reference to the Jew, and God took care that there should be a little remnant, delivered by His grace. On the other hand, the mass of the people, who were tested by and refused Christ, became possessed by the power of evil. They said, We will have no king but Caesar, then they became rebellious against Caesar. They were like the herd of swine that ran down into the abyss, they were swallowed in the waters of the gentiles. That is what came to pass in Israel consequent on their rejection of Christ.
It is a very interesting passage; but the point of moment is to see what appertains to Christ: He has power and authority to bring to an issue the question of good and evil. God cannot tolerate confusion for ever: everything in result will be disentangled. It is a great point when that takes place in regard to us. The work of grace in us is to disentangle good and evil; we get our senses exercised to discern both good and evil, and in that way we learn to approve of good and to refuse evil. How is the question brought to an issue? By the Spirit of Christ in us. It was predicted in regard of the Lord Himself, in Isaiah, that He should eat butter and honey, that He might know how to refuse the evil and choose the good, and that becomes verified in those in whom is the Spirit of Christ. The question of good and evil will be brought to a final issue at the great white throne; in the meantime it has been brought to an issue in regard to the Jew. The Jews are a public witness of it to the present day; they are lost in the sea of the gentiles, and what brought that about was their rejection of the light presented to them in Christ. They became possessed by the power of evil, and were hurried down to national destruction. But in the meantime God took care that there should be a remnant delivered from the power of evil, who should be at the disposal of the One who delivered them. The man who was delivered wanted to be with Jesus, but the Lord did not suffer him; He said, Go home, and show how great things God hath done [p. 189] unto thee. I think we find a company answering to the delivered man in the beginning of the Acts of the apostles, a company at the disposal of Jews, and entrusted by Him with His testimony.
My desire is that we might have an apprehension of what belongs to the Lord. Of course all has not come out yet, although it has in a way: “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” 1 John 3: 8. Confusion is to be brought to an end. God is not the author of confusion, and will not always tolerate it, but will disentangle things, and bring confusion to an end, and in result there will be new heavens and a new earth, wherein righteousness dwells. What really laid the foundation of it all was the work of redemption. Had it not been for that, such a solution would have been impossible; but the question has been solved in redemption, so that God can set to work, in Christ, to disentangle good and evil in detail, that is, all that is of Himself from all that is of the devil. We are told expressly of the lake of fire that it is prepared for the devil and his angels. It does not say it was prepared for man. The devil will be cast into it, and the beast, and the false prophet, and the children of the devil. There will be nothing there but what is morally of the devil.
Now we have Christ presented to us in another light (verses 43 - 48). It is not here exactly the power and authority of the Lord which can disentangle good and evil; but what Christ is in grace toward man. It is a very beautiful picture. I think that in the gospel of Luke humanity is not infrequently represented in a woman. That may be the case in the widow of Nain. The woman with the issue of blood presents to us the idea of humanity, and we find what the Lord is toward man here in this world, in the pressure under which man is. Christ came here to make known what was in the thought of God toward man; you get that brought out very beautifully in John 3: 16. The kindness of God our Saviour toward man appeared in the presence of Christ down here. That He came to undo the works of the devil [p. 190] was not enough. The point was that He should bring to light what was in the heart of God towards man; He presented to man that which He knew. We find that coming out in the ministry of the Lord. So here in regard to this woman. What is interesting in the incident is that she not only got virtue from Christ, but a word from Him. He was at her disposal, and so the whole time that the Lord was here He was available to all kinds of need. No recommendation to Christ was ever wanted; the simple recommendation to Him was need. He was at the service of all. The woman with the issue was beyond the help of man. It is a picture of the state morally of every person: life is ebbing out, and they are beyond the power of man’s healing. There are plenty of would-be physicians in the world; they cram people with lies, but they do not heal them, and I should put them down as quacks; and the curious thing is that people are far more ready to listen to quacks than to physicians. It is true enough in natural things, and certainly it is the case in moral things. There are quacks with nostrums; but the truth is that man is beyond the reach of physicians, and his life is ebbing out.
But now the truth is this, that Christ is at the disposal of all. The woman had that amount of light, that there was virtue in Christ. That is the evidence of faith. You are not called upon to believe anything about yourself; the idea that Scripture gives is, that you apprehend what is in Christ, and this woman apprehended that there was healing virtue in Christ, and Christ was available to her. She was healed by the virtue which went forth from Christ.
But she would have gone away; for she had not faith enough to come into personal contact with Christ. She did touch Him; but she had not courage or faith to come before Him and to acknowledge what she had received from Him. The Lord would not let her go; He called her to Him, and obtained an acknowledgment from her of what she had received. She received what was of equal value with her healing: a word from the Lord: “Daughter,
[p. 191] be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace”. The Lord had marked out her path — that was a great point; she was to “go in peace”.
Now I want to apply that to us, because I have no doubt that we get in the latter part of this chapter an epitome of the service of the Lord; and what took place in regard to the woman really gives us an idea of what is the present service of the Lord, just as what took place in regard of the demoniac presents to us what came to pass in connection with the presentation of Christ here. On the other hand, what came to pass in the case of the daughter of Jairus refers to what will take place when the Lord comes again.
Now I put before you what all will allow; that is that at the present time Christ is available to all. He is the Mediator between God and men, and at the present time there is not a man in the world to whom Christ is not available. The only recommendation to Christ is that a man should have need, and be beyond the power of human physicians. Let a man come to that sense, that his life is ebbing out, that he is going on to eternity and is beyond human help — he is in a fit state for Christ. But then Christ is always available. He is not simply available to a man who is awakened to his need, but always available. But if a man is to avail himself of Christ, he would not think of it until he comes to find his need of Christ — and he finds that in apprehending that his life is fast ebbing, and that there is no human physician who can bring moral healing to him. People try all sorts of things in this world, and think they are going to get by them happiness and satisfaction. You may get gratification, but not happiness. Happiness is really a test of everything. The point is, what will minister it to you? Self-gratification will not. You may read novels, and get gratification; you may pursue music, and gratify yourself in that way; but depend upon it, no pursuit of that kind will bring content and happiness. Things may be pretty much measured by whether they bring content or not. None of the nostrums which [p. 192] quacks can give you will ever bring content and happiness. What a man wants is healing; he wants saving.
Now Christ presents God to us in grace through redemption. That is a great thought to my mind; and what I mean by redemption is this, that God has been pleased to take up the liabilities under which man lay. I need hardly say that God did that by Christ. Man was under liabilities under the eye of God, and God in Christ took up those liabilities, so that they have been discharged. Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the whole world. The liabilities have been discharged in the grace of God, so that Christ might be available to every man, and He presents God to us in grace through redemption, not simply in grace, but in grace through redemption. That is the light in which Christ presents God to man.
If that is accepted, there is healing for man; a man says, I find my comfort in the grace of God; I find a place of quiet, and content, and rest. I see what is in the heart of God; I see the liabilities have been discharged, and the thought of God toward me is grace. It is a very wonderful thing that the grace of God has been brought close to you in Christ, so that your soul should find its refuge in God. The real healing which Christ has brought to man is the light of grace through redemption.
Now there is another thing: Christ communicates of His Spirit to the believer. His Spirit means really life, and peace, and liberty. It is morally Himself; my spirit means myself, and the Spirit of Christ means Himself morally. I think there is real healing in knowing what the thought of God is toward me; my liabilities gone, my soul in the light of divine grace, and the Spirit which Christ has communicated to me is the Spirit of life, and peace, and liberty — no longer death, and distance, and bondage, so that I am able to say, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”. Romans 8: 2. That is the true way of content and happiness.
The Lord says in John 10: “By me if any man enter in, be shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture”. You see how you enter in — by Me. What do you enter into? Into what Christ has brought. He has brought to you the light of God, the light of grace, through redemption. You get entrance into that by the faith of Christ; you enter into the light of the grace in which God presents Himself to you. The grace of God which brings salvation to all men has appeared, and now you enter in by the faith of Christ. “By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved”: his soul shall be delivered from every entanglement, from the world, and Satan’s power, and from sin. That is the effect of entering in by Christ. What a wonderful thing it is to be delivered from the terrible bondage in which people are — to the world, to opinion, to their fellow-men, and to a great many other things. Everybody ought to appreciate liberty. Many people in the world are, alas, fond of bondage, of things that hold the soul away from God, but I like to be free, like a bird. That is what the Lord means, I take it: “he shall go in and out” — he shall find liberty. You do not now want a fold. Before Christ came the sheep had to be kept in the fold; now they are saved, and they go in and out. You do not want to be identified with any system. Then you find pasture for your soul; that is the virtue of entering in by Christ.
Now I think that comes before us in the woman. The Lord was available to her; she did not believe anything about herself, but she believed there was virtue in Christ. She touched the hem of His garment, and virtue went out of Christ and healed her. And there is a very important sequel: the Lord was not content without her being brought to the personal knowledge of Himself. I think that is the case at the present time. Some of us stop short of that: we do not come into personal contact with Christ; I am quite sure if we did, it would greatly alter our pathway down here. I see many who do not seem to have pleasure in coming into close quarters with Christ. The point is to get a word from Christ, to get light and [p. 194] direction from Him, to be married to Him (I use the figure in Romans 7) so that we might bring forth fruit unto God. You will do no good in this world if you do not come under the influence of Christ. Then it is that you go forth according to His mind and serve Him down here; you bring forth fruit unto God. People seem to turn to this and that as if Christ were not good enough for them. It is pitiable, and I do not see any happiness about such people. I do not see they live for others; they are no great benefit to themselves or to anyone else. If they are no great good to themselves, they will not be to others. The point is that we should be content and happy, having life and peace and liberty, and seeking, so long as we are down here, to be beneficial to others, in other words, to bring forth fruit unto God. I have no doubt it was in that way that the Lord sent forth the woman. He brought her to Himself that she might know Him and get a word from Him; she got one of great value, and in the power of it she went forth from Him to her pathway in the world.
Christ is not simply the One who will bring to an issue every question of good and evil, but He is the blessed living One, full of inexhaustible virtue. If every man in the world availed himself of Christ, there would be no diminution of the virtue. He loves that those who have obtained virtue from Him should know Him and get a word from Him; He would send them forth in their pathway here in the world. May we all get the good of it, and be led by the Spirit of God into the full knowledge of all that which is presented to us in Christ.