⬇ EPUB

THE OUTSHINING OF DIVINE LOVE

John 11:3-8,32-35,41-44; 12:1-7; Romans 5:3-5;

Beloved brethren, we are in a day of a remarkable outshining – the day of the outshining of God’s love. In looking afresh into this well-known passage, may we be encouraged to find stability in the love of God and in what God in His love is doing, and also that we might be drawn by what the Lord Jesus in His love is doing. May we gain an impression of the love of God and also of the love of the Lord Jesus. And may we be exercised to have something, in the same way that Mary had something, to give to Him.

I was drawn to the first verse we read – the Lord says, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it”. Then it says: “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus”. I thought these two sentences spoken by the Lord convey, first, what God is doing in His wisdom, and then the way in which the Lord Jesus would secure that in the hearts of these saints. One of the impressions we can draw from this scripture is the way in which the Lord is in complete control. There are details that convey that to us. It says that “he remained two days then in the place where He was”. Then in the next verse, He says: “Let us go into Judæa again”. God is in complete control. He is working to accomplish what He has purposed. And the soul can find great stability in accepting what God has purposed. It is the safest thing and really the only safe thing on which we can rely – to see what God has purposed, and to see too that God has worked in such a way that His love may fill your heart. Paul could write that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us”. See God’s wondrous purpose, that He has given to us the means by which our hearts can be filled with the assurance of His love.

Failure in our own histories, and in the history of mankind, has only provided the opportunity for God to bring to light what He sought to do, what He always intended to do. It is a wonderful thing to grasp that what God has brought to light is not because of the failure that has come in, but is what He always intended to bring to light. It was always in His mind and in His heart that you should be brought to know His love and be brought to know Him in nearness. We have here in this scripture a wonderful example of how God works according to His purpose to bring about a result in the hearts of these believers. The result comes to light at the beginning of chapter 12 – a wonderful, glorious result. The result is not always immediately before us, but we can have the assurance of what God is doing, that He will not deviate from any of His ways; we can have full assurance that what He has purposed, He will accomplish. What He has purposed for us is that our hearts may be filled with His love. The Lord can say with assurance, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it”. Someone might say, but Lazarus did die from this sickness, so how could the Lord say what He said? Our own apprehension of what God is doing is sometimes so poor, but we can always rely on His love. If we do not understand what is going on, we can rest in the assurance of His love. And we can rest assured that, behind everything that He has brought to light, lies His love.

Then we can be drawn to the Lord Jesus. It says that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. He knew what He was going to secure in each one of these souls. The Lord knows what He is going to secure in each one of our souls through the things that we pass through. It is remarkable that this whole passage should open in this way with these two statements – one in relation to the love of God and what He was going to accomplish in purpose, and the other in relation to the love of the Lord Jesus and what He was going to secure in souls. The disciples say to Him: “Rabbi, even but now the Jews sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again?”. The Lord Jesus was in complete control. We have a wonderful view of that later in this gospel when they came to take Him. It was impossible that He should be taken hold of without Him allowing it. When first they came to take Him, they went away back and fell to the ground. When He allows Himself to be taken, that only happens after He asks that His own should be let go. The details of Scripture are worth going over. They shed so much light on the character of the love of God, because behind all these things lies the love of God. We could have read the whole chapter in detail – it tells us both of what goes on in God’s purpose, and the way that the Lord Jesus secures it. What Mary said, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died”, was true. You can scarcely think of death taking place in the presence of the Lord Jesus. I suppose this was the reason they had called for Him, that He might heal Lazarus. But it was not in God’s mind that it should be so. There was something that was going to be secured differently. Their eyes were to be opened to the One who was there, and to what He alone was able to do, so that His glories should shine before their eyes and that everything should therefore be to God’s glory.

We have often remarked on that very short verse of two word: “Jesus wept”. It brings to us the reality of His manhood, the way He is able to sympathise with us, how He is able to come close to each one of us in our circumstances. How available He is to us, to be close to us. Hebrews presents Him as our great High Priest, who is able to sympathise with us in all our infirmities. Think of the way Jesus sympathised with them in this passage. The Jews did not understand it, but He comes so close, so that they should know His heart. He comes so close to us in the details of our lives, with a view to securing our hearts, to win them. That is what Jesus was doing. He was going around with a purpose, to win hearts. He still works to that end. In the realm of what God is doing in divine purpose, the Lord Jesus is working out the details, with individuals, in view of winning hearts.

Some details are very precious. “Loose him and let him go”; think of the effect of the work of the Lord Jesus. It always works out to release affections – affections towards Himself, towards God, affections for one another. Everything that speaks of these bonds of death, He would release us from them, that hearts may be fully taken up with Himself, and be free in His presence and free with one another, so that nothing of that scene that is characterised by death would hold us back. What stability we find in the knowledge that the man who dishonoured God has been fully removed from before Him, and that the Lord Jesus – the One who was working here in such humility – is the One who fills the scene before Him. If we stand before God, it is because Jesus stands there. What stability this gives us. How precious is the love of the Lord Jesus. When we speak of the love of God, we could not exactly speak of it in the way we can speak of the love of the Lord Jesus. We can say of Him, like Paul: “the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”, Gal.2:20. Think of how personal the love of the Lord Jesus is to each one of us, and He is working to win your heart.

The scene at the beginning of John chapter 12 is wonderful. What results were secured! This led me to the passage where Paul writes: “the love of the Christ constrains us”. Mary is an example of one who was constrained by the love of the Christ. What really marked that scene was what she had gathered up. “Mary therefore, having taken a pound of ointment of pure nard of great price …”. Judas put a price on it, but the value to the Lord Jesus of what Mary did was far greater than that. He says, “Suffer her to have kept this for the day of my preparation for burial”. In what way are we constrained by the love that the Lord Jesus has shown, in the way that He has gone? What is there that we can gather up? What she gathered up involved sacrifice. She could have done something else with the ointment. She could have kept it for herself, or exchanged it for other things. But she sacrificed it for the Lord, because of the way she was constrained by His love. I feel challenged by that, by what there is that would constrain us to sacrifice so that there is something that is for Himself. May exercise be worked out in our hearts that would lead to a greater answer to Him. The house was filled with the odour of the ointment, it characterised the whole atmosphere. What result there can be as a result of exercise, of desires, something that is wrought out in souls as a result of appreciation of the Lord Jesus and of His love. It can mark and fill the whole house. This was a supper that was made for Him. I was affected by this, reading the scripture beforehand – I am challenged whether, when we come together to remember the Lord, there is something of that kind that characterises us. It was a supper made for Him. You think of the experiences that each of them went through before being there at that supper. Lazarus is referred to as “the dead man”. The Lord Jesus takes account of everything that we go through. He takes account of what is formed through experiences and suffering, through all that we face in our lives. He takes account of it all. It is all valued there, that it is for Him. Think of what is for the Lord Jesus in this scene. We have often appreciated the peace that marks this scene in John 12; what it meant to Him. Christ was supreme there, in each heart. That is really the result of the way that He works: the result of His love is that He becomes supreme, supreme in their hearts, supreme in the house, you might say supreme in the company. It is really the result of His love. What stability!

We can see that all this is to God’s glory. He knows the end from the beginning. We do not, but we can be restful because we know that He is in complete control. The apostle can speak of “hope; and hope does not make ashamed”. Mr Raven said that hope makes us bright¹. What a thought that is, that hope makes us bright. What we can learn from the Lord Jesus Himself, of His love and His ways! What wisdom, skillfulness and patience He uses in working with each one individually, with each one differently. He does not work with Martha in the same way that He works with Mary or with Lazarus, but He is supreme in each one of their hearts. They each contribute in their own way under His hand. Attention is drawn to the preciousness of the ointment that was gathered there – it was appreciated by all. We have all proved it – it is like an impression that someone shares and that all can appreciate. I would encourage us in this. It does involve exercise, but the value of it is greatly appreciated by the Lord Jesus – more than ever we could. He says, “Suffer her to have kept this for the day of my preparation for burial”. The Lord was measuring everything that He was yet to face. He knew in detail all that He was going to endure. What it meant to Him that there was a soul there who appreciated it! What it means to Him that His own should have an appreciation of Himself and of the way that He has gone, of everything that He is to us, and that should produce results.

May we be drawn to these thoughts. May we prove the stability of relying on God’s sovereign purpose and of His love that lies behind it. Nothing shall separate us from that love. Think of the Lord Jesus as the One who works with each one of us individually, so skilfully, to win our hearts so that we may know what it is also not to be separated from His love. May this raise exercise with us that there may be something of value that can be released, especially when we are together, that is so precious to Him. What value there is, what value He places on every little portion, impression, and thought that you may have about Him. He places a tremendous value on it.

May we grow in our appreciation of the love of our Lord Jesus, for His name’s sake.

Sidcup

22 November 2022

Sylvain Perrett

← Previous 3 of 7 Next →