THE SERVICE OF GOD IN THE FOUR GOSPELS (1)
[p. 408] THE SERVICE OF GOD IN THE FOUR GOSPELS (1)
I had before me the introduction of the service of God in the four gospels, each having its own distinctiveness. The feature of the gospel as seen in Matthew is the worship of the Son, an important feature indeed. This gospel has more in it bearing on this than any other has, particularly as seen in the magi. They not only come to worship, but they come bringing something in their hands. “Homage” is the word for worship here; it indicates personal reverence. This supreme reverence is seen peculiarly in this chapter and in this book. So in chapter 4, we see that the devil breaks in on this particular service, seeking to get the Lord to worship him. Again in chapter 9, there is Jairus, who worshipped Him, and there are several other instances, particularly at the end of the gospel, where He is worshipped; we are to keep in mind that this is a feature of the divine service. We know God is the supreme Object of worship. Yet the Lord is God, so in this gospel He is presented as the Object of our worship. He is presented to us for our reverence in Micah 5:2 which speaks of Him as “Ruler in Israel: whose goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity”, and also in Matthew 2:6: “A leader who shall shepherd my people Israel”.
There are other instances of man as such being worshipped, as in chapter 18:26; “the bondman therefore falling down did him homage”. The creditor here in this instance is not a divine Person, of course, but we must consider the context. J.N.D. in translating this word for worship says, “did him homage”, not “worshipped”. In Revelation 19:10, the same word is used; the apostle John was forbidden by the angel who said, “See thou do it not. I am thy fellow-bondman ... Do homage to God”.
[p. 409] Here in Matthew, we are to have in mind that the Lord Jesus is to be an Object of worship to man. The magi say, “Where is the king of the Jews that has been born? for we have seen his star in the east, and have come to do him homage”. This is to emphasise that He is the Son of God, a divine Person, and is to be worshipped. The use of the word “worship” is an important matter. The man in John 9 had gone a long way in his soul, and they had already cast him out when he meets the Lord, and in answer to His question, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” he says, “I believe, Lord”, and he did Him homage. The woman at the well in John 4 used the word ‘ worship ‘ in relation to public worship in a general way; that is the usual idea of worship, which has reference to a place, whether here or there, in a public sense. What is before us is not that, but whether the Lord Himself is apprehended by us, so that we are brought to worship from our hearts.
“They shall call his name Emmanuel” which means “God with us” is a presentation of the Lord which would enter into what we are considering. So here, these magi may not have been able to say much, but they apprehended in their souls who He was. The Lord Himself deals with these impressions of the soul, impressions that get expressed in time. Take David, for instance, as a young man he was a thoughtful person and had gained right impressions which came out later in his life. Indeed the Spirit of God could say to Samuel, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he”. Then later on the time came for the expression of all these precious impressions, and the Psalms testify what this man, David, had. He could say, “My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer” (Psalm 45:1). He spoke thus of the impressions of his soul, of that One. So these magi had a definite impression and they say that this One was King of the Jews. ‘ We have seen His star ... where is He? Where is the actual Object of these, our impressions of Him? ‘ These magi had impressions and God was helping them, for they moved towards the Object of those impressions. The Lord Himself taught the woman in John 4 that those who worship in the spirit are marked off from merely religious persons.
The west is the territory of the assembly, that is, the spreading of Japheth, while the east is Shem, or heathendom, which, no doubt, will be evangelised later (Revelation 14:6) by the “angel flying in mid-heaven, having the everlasting glad tidings”. It no doubt refers to that day when ten men will take hold of the skirt of one Jew. The Jew will then be honoured.
Now in Matthew 1:21, “Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins”. In the prophet Isaiah it is “Call his name Immanuel”, God with us. “Jesus” is another title for ‘ Jehovah, the Saviour ‘, and both titles point to His deity, all to bring us to worship. Our impressions of Him are to be formed by how He is presented to us.
In Matthew Joseph is made much of, he is called a righteous man, — it is the male side no doubt raised up by God to protect “the little child and his mother.” Joseph is thus a righteous man raised up for this purpose, to protect God’s interests. The purpose of God must stand, so in Matthew all things must go through. In Matthew an angel rolls away the stone at the tomb of the Lord Jesus; it is not left to anyone, but a mighty angel does it. Again at the end, we have the word, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them” (chapter 28:19). The idea is that all will be done in spite of all opposition.
The Lord would here bring home to us that we have the means of worship; the wise men opened up their treasures; they had these things. So we in the assembly service of God do not come empty handed.
Herod’s influence here was a little unusual, it must be that the enemy was working through Herod. If we enquire of any of the denominations we would get answers, some good answers, but then we are dealing with a spiritual matter here. These men from the east were guided by heaven, and it is another matter, not like Herod’s inquiry. He said “Go, search out accurately concerning the child ... so that I also may come and do him homage”, but he doesn’t mean that; he has another thing in mind, as is plainly seen later on in his wicked act of killing the little children. The star for us today is heavenly light. ‘ Heavenly light makes all things bright ‘, as the hymn says. Matthew makes much of heaven and heavenly activity; he brings in the dominance of heaven in the ways of God. There must have been a work of God in these wise men for them to be able to say, “Where is the king of the Jews ...? for we have seen his star”. Nathanael was told to “come and see” (John 1:47), that is his message, and he came and when he came the Lord remarks about him. These wise men are the leading worshippers here in Matthew and show how God is starting that worship by men. These men in going to Jerusalem were on dangerous ground, and were warned by a dream to go back another way. It says, “they ... went their way”; that just means that they followed the star — “until it came and stood over the place where the little child was”. The point is that following the guidance of heaven, they found Him. The star was leading them now, (they had lost that guidance while in Jerusalem), the same leading they had had in the east now leads them again, and they arrive at the place. When they saw the star “they rejoiced with exceeding great joy” — and falling down they did Him homage. How ready they were to open their treasures! — largeness of heart was theirs. When we are full of joy is the time to give.
In Matthew it is “little child”, not babe, which suggests the idea of growth. A more distinctive personality is indicated by the term “little child”, than by the word “babe”. This repudiates all thought of Mary being worshipped as is held by the Romish system. She is not viewed as an object of veneration; these men apparently ignore her altogether. But it is the Person of the “little child” they are engrossed with, He is the One to be worshipped; there was a real Person there, not just a babe in swaddling clothes, but a definite Person as the Object of worship of these men. This is set forth to us in Matthew as God’s thought.
The renewed mind spoken of later on by Paul, is a trained mind. So our remembrance of the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread is an act of mind with us, a mind trained to remember Him. It is the apprehension of Him as thy Lord, that is with us, so it is by a renewed mind. You come into the house to see Christ, in the circle where He is cared for. Our meetings here would plainly indicate that we are caring for what is of God. The child was possibly in Mary’s arms, but they did not worship her, only Him. However near they may be, we do not worship the saints — Him only; here they fell down and worshipped Him.
They brought the right things, for they had the idea of worship in their minds all the time — they came prepared and had gold, frankincense and myrrh. A certain attitude of mind is indicated here in their falling prostrate before Him — all included in our idea of worship; only it is well to keep in mind the personal worth of this Person, The Person of Christ is to be kept in mind all through Matthew, as the Object of veneration and worship of our souls. The heavenly light of the star led these men to Christ, and with the further command to return “another way”, the instruction to them is finished. They returned, they were good assembly men. The gold they brought represents what is of God, supreme among metals. The frankincense is fragrance; the myrrh, suffering, coming with the idea of excellence, lifting us out of [p. 413] the smallness of things here. The principle is that I must bring, not come empty. The point today is the quality and order of our service; we are to have the things these stand for in our souls. Mary “kept all these things in her heart”. She never forgot these things. We see that Mary of Bethany also had this treasure, and she herself was the vessel — it says she kept the nard. The Lord says of her, “Suffer her to have kept this for the day of my preparation for burial” (John 12:7) — it was treasure for the Lord personally. So if we are brought to Him in our service, we are come to finality. This all indicates how we come to Christ, nothing further is said to the wise men — the star led them to Christ and that was all that was needed, — so we are brought to Him in our service.