24

24

EXTRACTS

The servant is to be exercised in godly fear; he is to be

reverential. If one has gift and power in ministry, he is apt to go

on in that, and forget to let down his wings to be detained

before God. After all, it is that “the surpassingness of the

power may be of God, and not from us”, 2 Corinthians 4: 7 …

You feel the necessity for this in your ministry; that you hear

the voice, for you need a fresh communication from the Lord in

serving. The repetition of the letting down of the wings (Ezekiel

1: 24, 25) is to stress the idea of humility. The wings are

prominent and they make a tremendous noise. We are apt to

think of the noise we are making, but that is not the end in

view. In service we need to let down the wings, be quiet and

listen to God, so that there will be a voice. I think that is seen

at the banks of the Jordan in the blessed humiliation of Christ.

How lowly He was! And then as He went up from the Jordan

and was praying, there was a voice from heaven—“Thou art

my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”, Luke 3: 21,

22. There is a voice and that is what we need in our ministry.

J. Taylor (Vol. 47, p.11, 12)

The blood of the burnt-offering never went in to the holiest, but

the blood of the sin-offering was put on the mercy-seat. The

whole tabernacle system had as its centre the ark of the

covenant, the mercy-seat, and the cherubim, but the blood of

the sin-offering was put on the mercy-seat. There is nothing so

great as the sin-offering, because the whole universe of bliss

is commensurate with it—we can regard every bit of it as the

answer to the sufferings of Christ as the sin-offering. That is

what gives the many sons their value to God … God is

glorified in mercy. The universe of bliss is to be the display

throughout eternity of God in mercy. There is nothing we need

to ponder more than the sufferings of Christ in sin-offering

character.

C. A. Coates (‘Outline of Hebrews’, p.26)