THE WORLD IN RECONCILIATION
[p. 279] THE WORLD IN RECONCILIATION
The evangelist Luke, in presenting the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, selects such circumstances as render the gospel attractive. He carefully avoids being offensive, although ever stating the truth as needed; he avoids stirring up any prejudice. “By any means” he would present God as “saving some” So that I have selected these two incidents in our Lord’s ministry which particularly set out this side of Luke’s narrative.
The first scene is laid in Capernaum, the second one in a city called Nain. The Lord had said many things in the audience of the people, and when He had ended all His sayings He entered into the first town, Capernaum. It was not accidental; the Lord had a purpose in entering into Capernaum. What you find is that attention is not called to the bad things of that town, although it is elsewhere a type of the world. Here it represents the world in one feature of it, that is as set forth in the epistle to the Romans; chapter 11:15. The world is there said to be in reconciliation — a term that many of you here, perhaps, do not understand — and for the benefit of some, who perhaps may not understand, I may say that it is provisional reconciliation. “For if their (i.e., the Jew) casting away [be the] world’s reconciliation” Romans 11:15 God regards the world thus, as Christ is Head to “every man”
God thus withholds His severe judgment of it. He would in this way give it every possible advantage. He has come into it in Jesus who was here as man; He is on the side of man, and man is regarded on that line by God in that Jesus is a Man. He is not only the mediator of Christians, but the mediator of all men. He represents all men, and God withholds [p. 280] His severe judgment of the world so that no one should be prejudiced or deterred in turning to Him. He says to you, virtually, “I am not imputing trespasses to you in that my Son has become your mediator. I can offer you forgiveness of sins” He in no way intimates that it can be said of anyone that he has no sins, but God is not imputing sins. Jesus suffered for them on the cross.
Jesus, in becoming our mediator, died. He gave Himself a ransom for all. You thus see, as Jesus is before God, how differently God regards men. His attitude toward men is that of a Saviour-God who would have all men be saved; it is that of grace, not imputing trespasses, and this will continue during the accepted time, during the day of salvation. “Behold, now [is the] well-accepted time: behold, now [the] day of salvation” 2 Corinthians 6:2 Simon the Pharisee, as we see later on in this chapter, is regarded by the Lord from his own estimation as a fifty-pence debtor. His own reckoning is accepted. Sins are not being imputed; if you reckon them yourself, good and well. It is the time of forgiveness, and in the Lord’s coming into Capernaum He had these thoughts in His mind.
Luke tells us that there was a Gentile soldier there — the centurion. He represents the power of Rome, but the evangelist says, in effect, “There were the very best relations existing between this Roman soldier and the Jews; they were not at daggers-drawn” Jewish elders are ready to be sent by him, and then you find that this Roman officer has a servant, and he is on the very best of terms with him. There was no ‘labour’ issue; the servant “was dear to him” If employers and employed were on such felicitous terms, the world would be attractive. At any rate, we may make due allowance for all that its supporters may say; we grant them everything; we grant all that you may claim for it. But this servant is sick, and evidently about to die.
[p. 281] You may have the very best political conditions, the best social conditions, the happiest family relations, and yet sickness unto death stalks through the land. We grant you all that you claim if you are in this world. God is not stirring up any prejudice; He wishes nothing to interfere with your thinking about Jesus. So the centurion hears about Jesus; who told him I cannot tell you. You have heard about him many a time. It may be you have been conscious of your need many times, but as yet the healing power has not come into your soul. The centurion is urgent, for he is in trouble. He is not asking for himself personally; he is asking for another, and that his servant. What a master he was! How little of the military there was in him! How little exaction! The truth is that the centurion had light in his soul; he had heard about Jesus. Light had come to him and light had entered into him. Many others had heard about Jesus.
Who is there in this land who has not heard about Him, but into how many has light about Him entered? It is when the light enters and need is created that you begin to move, that you become concerned. The illness of the centurion’s servant is but a type of need, and the urgency with which he sent to Jesus shows that he had found out that there was One who could meet that need. As I have said, he had heard about Jesus. Is it not so, beloved friend, that need exists in your soul? How many of you here have not confessed the Lord? How many of you here have the same exercise? You are conscious of being a sinner, of having soul need, not need in body. If one were to come here in this town tonight with some panacea for the healing of the body and advertise himself, he would get attention. People are much more concerned about their bodies than about their souls, but the gospel is for the salvation of your souls. The body will be attended to (the bodies of the [p. 282] believers will be raised, they shall have bodies of glory), but for the moment what is needed is soul salvation, deliverance from soul trouble, soul anxiety. And so I am using this servant’s physical condition as a type of your soul’s need.
Now you will observe how this centurion’s case is related here by the evangelist Luke, so that you might have light as to what to do. He first sends elders of the Jews to the Lord. Did he not respect the Lord? Why did he not go himself? This passage tell us why; he says, “I am not worthy” — he had such a sense of his own unworthiness and of the worthiness of Jesus, features which are sure evidence of a work of God in him. As soon as God begins to work you begin to feel how unworthy you are; you feel, ‘Why, I am not fit to go within His view’. Peter said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man” Luke 5:8; Luke tells us that, too.
This centurion had such a sense of his own unworthiness that he says, ‘I will send others who seem to me to be more worthy’ — the elders of the Jews. There is not a word of reproach about the Jews here, and they go to the Lord, for these elders were interested. There are many like that, I doubt not, who have gone to the Lord about you. It may be your father or mother, or your friends, and that He is interested in you through them. The elders say to Jesus, ‘He is a worthy man’, not a hated Roman; nothing of that kind. It is in this sense a beautiful scene. ‘He is a worthy man, he loves our nation’. At that time the nation was still owned of God. What corresponds with that today are the Christians around us; do you love them? They say to the Lord, “he loves our nation and himself has built the synagogue for us” The Lord valued that. Even if you carry a plate of bread and butter round to the saints, during a meeting, the Lord takes notice of that. Any little thing that you do for the Lord’s people is [p. 283] taken notice of. Why are you doing it? Why do you come here? Why did that man love Israel? Surely because God was working with him. Why did he build a synagogue? Because of his interest in the people of God. So the elders of the Jews tell the Lord of these things.
Well, now, the Lord is moved, and went with them, and He is here tonight. Do you think this gospel meeting is an accident? Not at all; the Lord has a hand in it. There have been many prayers about it, and you were mentioned in them. This gospel meeting belongs to the great work that the Lord Jesus is carrying on in this world. It is ordered of Him, and He is here tonight. I am not speaking theoretically; I know that He is here to be available for you. Are you going to avail yourself of Him? He is here to help you. Whatever your soul need is, He is ready to relieve you. The Lord “went with them” Matthew gives an account of this incident; he compares the centurion’s faith with that of the Jews, and quotes the Lord as saying, “but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” Matthew 8:10 All Luke does is to paint a beautiful picture about the faith of a Gentile. There was nothing like it in Israel, but he has not a word to say against the Jews; they are the people of God to him. Like the great servant of whom he was a companion, it was “the Jew first”
So the Lord comes with them, and the centurion sends his friends as the Lord drew near to his house. He had friends; note there is not a word of discredit; it was quite right under these circumstances to have friends, for a man like that deserved to have them. If there is any little leaning in you towards the people of God, you have friends. You have more friends than you know of. This man’s friends were available to him, and he sent them to [p. 284] meet the Lord. He puts a wonderful speech in their mouths. As far as this passage goes the Lord and the centurion never met. Matthew says they did, but all that we get in Luke is mediation. It is blessing at a distance on the principle of faith, and that is the present position. You do not need to move from your seat to get the blessing, and this is exactly what the centurion understood, for faith always has intelligence. “Lord” he says, “do not trouble thyself”
There you see a state of soul in a man which would not put anyone to trouble at all — a fine exhibition of the work of God. But then the Lord had taken on the trouble without any solicitation. “Now is my soul troubled” John 12:27 He says, and He prays to the Father, “If thou wilt remove this cup from me” Luke 22:42; but it was the will of the Father that it was not removed from Him. He drank that cup that we should not drink it. He had taken on that trouble — the cross in all its infinite bitterness and distance; He was forsaken of God there. Who can depict it, the trouble that the Lord Jesus took on Himself to carry out the will of God — to be our Saviour, that we should be forgiven and saved?
But, as I said, you see the beautiful state of soul that this man was in; he knew that the Lord could heal his servant at a distance. Note how Luke lays the basis for the present dispensation; it is the Lord operating from heaven so that His word is as effective in China as it is in the Argentine; it is effective everywhere. He sits on high; He need not come. He only needs to speak the word. How many words He is speaking tonight! He selects this one and that one, and He speaks the word, and persons are healed. Are you ready for Him tonight? It is a question of His word. The centurion says, “I also am a man placed under authority” Did he want to tell the Lord that he was a military officer? Not at all; he was consciously unworthy of even meeting the Lord on [p. 285] the road. How fit he was for the gospel! He was of those who are truly unworthy in their own estimation, and who have a great appreciation of the worthiness of Jesus. He says, “I also am a man placed under authority” He had soldiers under him. “I say to this [one], Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my bondman, Do this, and he does [it]” There were excellent relations existing between them, and now he says, ‘Lord, that is exactly your position; all you have got to do is to say the word’. How simple it was! Anyone about could see that the Roman officer was under authority, and that all Caesar had to do was to communicate with the general officer above the centurion, and the command would be passed on to the centurion, and through him to the lowest in the rank, and there would be no question about it; everyone understood the Roman military order. When Jesus heard these things, He turned round (an unusual thing with Him) to those who followed Him, and He said to them, “Not even in Israel have I found so great faith” When they that were sent returned to the house, they found the servant was healed.
Now what have I said all this for? Not to interest you in an historical event, but that you might be healed. That centurion has passed away — he was saved, surely, for he had faith. They have all passed away. This event was not recorded for them, it was recorded for you, that you might be saved. Why not? The Lord has spoken the word. It is a question of faith. The great point here is faith. The gospel is “on the principle of faith, to faith” Romans 1:17 Now I will just say a word about Nain. I have been speaking of the world in its political order and in its social relations. It is, you might say, attractive to live in; but whilst you may live in it a few years, sickness comes, and death, and to die without Christ, however felicitous the relations here are, is to spend [p. 286] an eternity of misery. Man can do nothing to modify the conditions for the lost in the eternal state of things. This next town is called Nain. Luke would make full allowance for the attractiveness of the world. I suppose the ordinary meaning given for the name of the town is true — it is a pleasing, beautiful place. I do not know that it is mentioned elsewhere — I think not. It is brought in here in relation to this work at Capernaum and gives another view of the world. Beautiful scenery, beautiful to travel in, every prospect pleases. But now what about death? If you take a train, or a motor, or a boat, and go anywhere you like, you are confronted with death. You will see graveyards, you will see funerals, you will see undertakers, and other mortuary things, notwithstanding the physical beauty, even notwithstanding the fine cities that are built, the fine buildings in them; giving all credit to these things, as represented in Nain, there is a man carried out of this very place. Carried out! Carried in triumph like a Roman general returning? No, carried out to his grave. Have you faced this matter, young people here? You say, ‘This belongs to old people’. Not at all; this was a young man. The gospel is largely for the young; for the old, too, but there are few old people converted, comparatively speaking. As you become old you become hardened; it is while you are young that the gospel would appeal to you. “Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth” Ecclesiastes 12:1 Your time may be gone; you may not live to be an old man or an old woman. The percentage of deaths is largely among the young; very few live to a great age. Your time is coming, and you will be carried out. Things here were all right outwardly — a lot of people at the funeral, and there was sympathy there, but what availed it? There was a man in his coffin; what about him? We are all passing on. I do not want to paint a dark picture; it is a necessary [p. 287] picture. Was this young man saved? I do not think so, there is not a word as to his antecedents. There is no indication that he belonged to the family of faith, but he belonged to this race. He was a young man, and that is what Jesus has become — He has become a Man. He had regard for this man, although dead, and He touched the bier.
Now I am coming to resurrection — not that I wish to dwell on that, for I wish to impress the solemn fact upon the young that, however attractive the world may seem to be, yet the coffin is awaiting you, and you will be carried out of the gate presently, and after death the judgment, we are told. But the Lord Jesus raises the dead. He has not only power to heal a sick person, but He has power to raise the dead. And so He speaks to the young man; He says, “Youth I say to thee, Wake up” And the dead sat up. He was actually dead, but death has no power in the presence of the Son of God. He is declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection of the dead; Romans 1:4. The young man arose and began to speak. Anyone who comes under the touch of Christ has something to say. How one likes to hear them speak! They have an experience that few have. We read, “And he gave him to his mother” She was a widow; she is a picture of humanity in its destitution, for however fair the place is, death is there with all its devastating power.
You may go about to see the mountains and the lakes, but every family has its record of death’s work. This widow represents that. She was a widow and he was her only son. The Lord had compassion on her. Your soul may be destitute, without any relief. Turn to the Lord, He is available to you, He has compassion on you, for the delivering of the son back to the widow is but a suggestion of the way He would relieve any destitute heart. He relieves by [p. 288] coming into it; He comes into it Himself. You find here that fear seized on all, and they glorified God. What was their conclusion? That a great prophet had risen up and that God had visited His people. It is the great end of the gospel; not only is a prophet risen up, but God Himself has visited His people. God has come in Jesus. May God bless His word.