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everything that God had looked for, there it was in Jesus.
Every other man had gone about doing his own will, but here
was a Man who was entirely committed to the will of God. He
said in Gethsemane, “Not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22:
42. That means that the Lord never had any other will but the
will of His Father, and so that blessed Man was the divine
standard.
What a wonderful standard it is! The choicest way in which a
man could stand before God is in sonship in the enjoyment of
His love and that is seen in Jesus; He is the Pattern. There
was a uniqueness, of course, in Jesus in the condition of flesh
and blood; things are said of Him that could be said of no one
else; “The holy thing also which shall be born shall be called
Son of God”, Luke 1: 35. And you will remember that in the
oblation the cakes and wafers were mingled with oil or
anointed with oil (see Leviticus 2: 4). It means that the Holy
Spirit was there from the very outset, “the holy thing” was a
different kind of Man from all that had
preceded. The Spirit of God was active in the very birth of
Jesus, coming upon Mary and overshadowing her. The Spirit
of God was protecting the whole scene from the violent efforts
of the enemy. So He grew (Luke 2: 40). Children! Jesus grew
up here, from a babe to seven, eight, nine; ten, right up to
twelve; the Scripture calls attention to it (Luke 2: 42). He went
through all the stages of life up to thirty (Luke 3: 23), and at
about thirty years of age He entered upon public service in the
testimony of God.
As He entered upon public service the Spirit descended upon
Him (Luke 3: 22) and a voice from heaven said, “This is my
beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matthew 3:
17. That alluded to the thirty years of secret history with God.
What that must have been for God, despite man’s failure to
observe and take account of it. Isaiah speaks of that—“He is
despised and left alone of men” (Isaiah 53: 3). But God found
His delight in Him, and that is the Man the Spirit of God