THE FIRST LESSON OF RESURRECTION LIFE
THE FIRST LESSON OF RESURRECTION LIFE
In Mark 8 the Lord has His own in circumstances to teach them this first lesson of resurrection life. The ship is on the sea, and they have no bread, no resources,
[p. 229] and He is with them. The circumstances are just the suited ones for exercising their souls, and leading them into the rest which faith gives, when it sees no one to lean on, and the resource is only in God. They, like ourselves, do not understand the lesson which the Lord would teach them; and they reason among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread”. With us, whether in our private circumstances, or in the church, when we are placed in circumstances where there are no visible resources, the first and great thing which hinders our blessing, and occupies our minds, is the attempt to account for this warning which we do not understand, by blaming ourselves for our want of prudence and foresight. The tendency is to be occupied with the failure or the want, rather than with Him who, in His mercy, is present, to keep and to satisfy our hearts in Himself, when there are no resources.
Here they are, in the ship, in the sea, without bread; no circumstances could be more resourceless, but He was with them, and He, they have now to learn, was sufficient. This is the large place, the resurrection-ground, the continent of blessing, which gladdened a Simeon, when he had the child Jesus in his arms. It was the shore on which the dying thief landed. It was that spot which Paul knew was “far better” than any here, that unknown land that in spirit every one now must enter on, whether on a death-bed, or in spirit crossing the Jordan. It is, in fact, the landing-place; and this is the first lesson of resurrection life, for it is the soul finding out that it has nothing but Christ, and what He - blessed be His name - is in His sufficiency.
Before we reach this, we may be like the disciples, truly loving Him, and knowing Him as our Saviour; but we have not yet stood outside everything, and found that He is enough for us when there is nothing else. But not only this (for this is only the beginning), we find here how fully He satisfies the heart, and makes up for everything.
[p. 230] If Simeon, or a dying thief, or the martyr Stephen, find Him everything to them, why should we wait for the dissolution of the body, and of all here, to learn this full and blessed lesson? Surely Paul did not wait for it till death; but in order to learn it, the teaching figuratively set forth here is necessary. We shrink from being in the ship at sea, with nothing in it but Christ; and yet it is then we learn for the first time His full value. The mercies of a former day tell us who He is, and He recalls them to His disciples, in order that they may understand who He is; but He Himself is greater than His mercies; and when we have no resources, we learn what He is. I have nothing but Christ; is He sufficient, or not? This is resurrection, and when I have entered on it, I know the power and resources of the life of Christ. No soul can know consciously what Christ is, as to resource, above all the claims of nature, until it has learned this lesson. Abraham learned it when he ascended Mount Moriah, prepared in heart to extinguish the only light which cheered his eye on earth; and at no time did his soul enter into, or comprehend, what God is in His own might and majesty, as in that eventful moment. Each step in that solitary ascent only deepened his conviction of the greatness of the God in whom he trusted; and after it, he was prepared for the deeper communications from God. And assuredly, until we have found Christ - not only as our Saviour, saving us from the depths of our ruin and sin, but also as the One on the shore who is enough for us, where there is nothing else - we are not prepared for deeper revelations, for the unfolding of things connected with Christ, because we have not found Him to be the true resource of our hearts. An this, not only in our own individual history, but also in the church, and as His witnesses on earth; for, after all, there is no true standing publicly which has not been learned individually. If I know Christ in my private history as my resource when there is nothing [p. 231] else, I shall not find it difficult to see that He is enough for me in the church. If He stand by me, all men may forsake me; and I may, like Paul, confront unmoved the most dread tribunal in the world!
To know Him in His sufficiency, apart from everything else, is necessarily at the very beginning of our life in Him. He saves us, and because He lives, we live also; but the moment I know that He is my life fully, it is no longer “I, but Christ liveth in me”; and hence it is Himself who first meets me. He is the Head whom I am told to hold, and from whom all nourishment flows; this is what gives strength and character to the soul, and is learned and cultivated by every one who enjoys solitude with Him. If He is not enough for my soul alone with Him, I have not learned that He surpasses all things; nor could I bear to be deprived of everything here, nor to confront it fearlessly. When He is enough, retirement from everything and every one to Himself is full rest and solace to the heart; and the less question there is between Him and me, the more shall I seek to be alone with Him, because there I am prepared for explanation and correction from Him, which I should not have received or noticed in the crowd. If I have wandered from Him, I shall fear being alone with Him; and yet, if I have known what a resource He is to my heart alone, I shall be miserable until I have found myself again alone with Him, and have heard His correction, which restores and invigorates my soul. And as our souls learn this, two things are apparent in our course: one, that we can bear the loss of anything, because He is our resource; the other, that we fear not any power which may oppose us, because He is near us.
Blessed Lord Jesus, may our souls grow in the knowledge of Thy worth and excellence!