THE SHADOW OF JESUS

A. McBride

Luke 10: 38–42; 2 Kings 2: 1, 2, 6–8, 12–15 (to “Elisha) Our brother in the preaching on Lord’s day spoke to us about the shadow of Jesus. He read that verse, “In his shadow have I rapture and sit down”, Song of Songs 2: 3. He illustrated it from other scriptures, of course, giving them a very fine gospel setting. I have been thinking a little about the testimony today and it occurred to me to speak about these two persons. Mary and Elisha, in that connection. I think they were persons who knew something about the shadow of Jesus. It is a great matter to have this personal attachment to the Lord. It is the vital thing in spiritual life for every one of us, whether young or old. I think it would be right to say that the older we get the more we realise the need of maintaining a vital link with the Lord Jesus, a personal

link. After all, that is how we begin our spiritual history, with a personal touch from the Lord and a personal committal to Him, and it is the way to continue in our lives. Not all of us can say that we have done that. There may be periods of our lives that we can reflect on, and have to say that our personal link with the Lord was not maintained as it should have been. But we can say what wonderful power this blessed Man has to recover us and bring us back. I would encourage every one here to cultivate, diligently, deliberately, prayerfully, a personal link with Jesus, maintain it, find that He is for you. That is one idea of the shadow, that He is for you, for you powerfully too. The prophet tells us in another context that He is “as the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land”, Isaiah 32: 2.

It certainly is a thirsty, weary land we live in, a world of corruption and sin, dishonour to God and to His name and to His Christ and to His people. What a weary land it is. We feel for men in it, for our fellow-men, who may have no resource. They do not know what is coming next. What a thing it is to know this One in whose shadow we can find rest and sit down.

That is a very precious thing, “have I rapture”, she says. That is, her heart is engaged with Christ. That is the Holy Spirit’s function here, to quicken our hearts in view of knowing and loving Christ more, appreciating His own precious love day by day. Think of Rebecca journeying with the servant; they were speaking together. She asks, “Who is the man ...?” He says, “That is my master” (see Genesis 24: 65). How the Spirit loves to call attention to the Lord Jesus, to quicken our affections. “And his fruit is sweet to my taste”. That is something we can get for ourselves from the Lord Jesus.

I think that is like Mary in Luke 10. She just epitomises that very verse. She placed herself there in the presence of Jesus and took in what He was saying. How sweet was His fruit to her taste! Is that not precious? The Lord Jesus says that she “has chosen the good part”. Another feature of the shadow is that the Lord will defend you. He is for you and He will defend you if there is criticism. If you set your face for the Lord’s things He will defend and help you, stand by you, and you will not miss that word that He gives. But it was Martha’s house. She was, so to speak, ‘in the same fellowship, went to the same meeting, sat in the same meeting-room. She invited the Lord but somewhere she had missed the vital thing about the shadow of Jesus. She had still to learn that. We understand from what is said elsewhere that she did learn it. How she learned it, what the shadow of Jesus was! It says, “and Martha served”, John 12: 2. However at this stage she did not know it, but Mary knew it. I would just encourage every one of us not to miss it, but find the blessedness of what it is to take our place deliberately in relation to the Lord Jesus, in our personal lives and in our assembly lives. You come into this room. You take your place, not casually but deliberately.

You take your place in your own mind and in your own soul, deliberately in relation to the Lord Jesus because He is going to speak. It says she was “listening to his word”. The Lord says that will not be taken from her. It is something that will last for all eternity, some impression of Christ that will go into eternity. Our blessed occupation in eternity will be the outpouring of praise and adoration for the Lord Jesus. It will be the result of what we have learned here, the formation that is going on in the soul now. We can take our place in the assembly in relation to Christ, there is something wrought in our hearts which, as the Lord says, “shall not be taken from her”. That is, it will remain, but then too, it will yield in that eternal note of praise, a very blessed thing!

Now I just wanted to touch on this young man, Elisha. He knew something too, I think, of the shadow of Jesus. Elijah here would be a type of Christ. It says earlier, in 1 Kings, that he cast his mantle on Elisha (see 1 Kings 19: 19). It is like the Lord putting His claim on you in view of the testimony continuing. Elijah cast his mantle on him. Elisha came, as it were in figure, under the shadow of Jesus. Then it says Elijah went with Elisha, another blessed thing, the Lord with you; He will go with you, in youthful exercises or older exercises. Thank God that we know something of that, that in wonderful grace He will go with us. But then it is in view of our going with Him. This young man says three times, “I will not leave thee”. Wherever you go I will not leave you. It speaks in Revelation of those who follow the Lamb, wheresoever it goes (see Revelation 14: 4).

Beloved brethren, there is a need for that today. The testimony universally is, I believe, at a critical point and there is a need for following the Lord, knowing where He is and following Him, determinedly taking up our place; we will not leave Him. The narrative of this journey is well known but I just wanted to touch on this, that they came to the Jordan. It says, “And they two went on”. What a blessed thing it is to be attached to Jesus. In verse 7 it says, “and they two stood by the Jordan”. Think of the thoughts that would be going through the mind of Elisha. The sons of the prophets knew what was going to happen, but they knew nothing of the feelings that were in the mind and heart of Elisha. He was like the disciples in the gospels, when the Lord told them that He was going away. He had to say to them at one stage, “Let not your heart be troubled”, John 14: 1. Clearly they were troubled by the fact that He was going away. Elisha here may have been troubled but he was standing by Elijah, in figure, maintaining his link in the shadow of Jesus. “Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters ...”. It speaks of Christ going through death. It speaks of the power of Christ overcoming death. He wrapped .his mantle. There would be something inscrutable about that, I suppose. He took his mantle and wrapped it together. Think of what it was for Christ to invade and vanquish the power of death. Later on we read that Elisha took up Elijah’s mantle and smote the waters. He did not wrap it, of course, he was not able to do that. That was unique to Christ, His own blessed work. But in the power of the

Spirit we too can go over Jordan, that is, go into the heavenly inheritance in the light and power of the Man who has overcome and ascended.

Now the sons of the prophets were, I think, rather like Martha, although she got help, I am not sure if they ever did. They were favoured, probably more favoured in some respects than Elisha was, but somehow they were just not there. It says they stood opposite afar off. It is possible to be in the presence of what is proceeding, and yet not be in it. They knew each point of that journey but missed the moral import of each exercise in it. The question is, where are we in relation to the Lord as to what may happen in the testimony. Elisha was with the Lord as to what was happening. The sons of the prophets were able to say that “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha”. They were able to recognise a certain evidence of the Spirit’s power, of the Spirit’s working, but they were not in it. Now the challenge is that we should be in it. I think we shall be in it as we know something of the shadow of Jesus, what it is to be close to this blessed One. There is a place for us, a place that we can take deliberately in exercise, in view of being not only with the Lord, appreciating all that He is giving so freely, but sympathetically with Him in the testimony, because Elisha sets out the testimony carried forward in the power of the Spirit. That is a great matter today and we shall only come into the power of the Spirit as we keep near to Jesus. I am sure of that. It lies in being near to Christ, and in being near to Him we have the help and power of the blessed Spirit who has come down from Him. May we be helped in these things for His glory!

Word in meeting for ministry, Grangemouth
7 January 1992