THE EVENNESS OF THE LIFE OF JESUS

Luke 3:21,22; John 1:32-34; Leviticus 2:1-3

I seek help to speak about the perfect evenness that marked the life of the Lord Jesus. It was a source of delight to the Father and called out this remarkable voice from heaven. What delight must have filled the Father’s heart when declaring from heaven these wonderful words, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. There is a tendency with ourselves sometimes to be extreme. When things become difficult, I might have extreme thoughts or say or do something that might be a little extreme, but the whole life of the Lord Jesus was filled out from His birth right through to the cross and the grave with such perfect evenness which was delightful to heaven. All that came out in expression in the Lord Jesus here below is now enshrined in glory above. The Holy Spirit guided the writers of Scripture to put down the words which we have, and I find it of interest that each of the gospel writers should make reference to the Spirit descending as a dove. The Spirit of God called upon all four writers to express this remarkable thought. The four gospels are full of variety, but in each we have this consistent reference to the Spirit descending as a dove. It bears witness to the delight of the Holy Spirit with all that was found in Christ here. That is a wonderful contemplation for our hearts and should give us the desire to be formed like Him.

We have been speaking in the reading of the importance of prayer, and I particularly selected this reference given by Luke to the Lord “having been baptised and praying”. How wonderful to think of the heavens opened on a praying Man here. Christ has opened up the way into heaven for us, “the new and living way” (Heb.10:20), that we might draw near in prayer to God. When He was here, the heavens were opened as He was praying, then this wonderful voice of appreciation was heard and the Spirit was seen descending as a dove. Luke adds these precious words, “in a bodily form as a dove”. It was not in any sense a dream, it was a distinctive view that John the baptist had, a marvellous occasion when the Spirit of God descended in this way. We give honour to the Holy Spirit as a divine Person and recognise that He has not come into a condition of flesh and blood as Christ came into, but there was this substantial evidence that He descended upon the Lord Jesus here in all the complacency suggested by the dove. Every feature that found expression in that blessed Man was delightful to God. No one feature was found to be extreme, all was there in perfect evenness. I long to be more like that. By nature, we tend at times to become unbalanced. I have not used the word balanced in relation to the Lord Jesus. I would use the word balanced in relation to ourselves, as I think it is very much needed, but in the case of the Lord Jesus I prefer to use the word evenness. I think of balance being secured through what may act in different ways or directions being brought to a perfect settlement, but everything in the Lord Jesus flowed out from the perfection of what He was inwardly.

We have been reminded in the reading that circumstances arise in our own lives to help to adjust us. The Lord Jesus never needed adjustment. The descent of the Holy Spirit served to bring out that perfection was here in a Man. The words of the Father reflect on the secret life of the Lord Jesus. We may not know a great deal about these early years, but we know that He grew up in favour with God and men. We know that He advanced in stature, we know that He was subject to His parents, we know that He was marked by wisdom. What glories the Scriptures help us to trace, and in any case, we have the perfect witness of the Spirit descending as a dove upon Him. At this point it was in view of the Lord taking up public service. John the baptist protected the thought that the Spirit abode upon Jesus; he said, “I beheld the Spirit descending from heaven, and it abode upon him”. That conveys that the perfect evenness continued throughout the whole of the public life of the Lord Jesus. In His service and activities before men, all was found in perfect blessedness. What patience and wisdom He showed in serving the woman in John 4, what compassion to the widow of Nain, what power in healing towards the man possessed by demons. What faithfulness He showed in dealing with the opposition of the Pharisees and the scribes, what love for Peter before he failed and after he failed; what untiring devoted service. Everything that we consider in relation to the Lord Jesus portrays perfect evenness. It may be that at times, what characterised others was in one way right. Paul, for example, was marked by outstanding zeal. Peter was marked by special power in announcing the glad tidings. Various ones may shine out in a special way, but there was a wonderful blend of holy perfection seen in the Lord Jesus. I feel we need to contemplate Him more. Oh, that we might be marked by more of that evenness in the midst of troublesome circumstances! No wonder the Lord Jesus said to Peter, “Follow thou me”, John 21:22.

The apostle Paul was burdened when writing to the Corinthians; some were claiming “I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ”, 1 Cor.1:12. Paul clearly saw that there was something wrong in that. He said, “Is the Christ divided?” (v.13). There could not be scope for extreme or party views to be taken up; Christ must be everything and in all. We can understand how John wrote so beautifully in his gospel concerning the Lord Jesus. We get the writings of a man who saw the glory of One upon whom the Spirit continued to abide. All that marked the Lord Jesus in perfection as Man underlay His acceptability as an offering when it came to His death. Without spot, without blemish and without irregularity anywhere, there was perfect evenness throughout, perfect acceptability to God. What an offering before God to secure all that God looked for in man and to make way for the acceptance of the saints before God as in Christ.

When we come to Leviticus, we have reference to the oblation, which is sometimes spoken of as the meat-offering. It was not an offering that involved the shedding of blood and therefore it bears special reference to the life of the Lord Jesus, as leading up to His acceptability in death. That is why the oblation accompanied the other offerings – the burnt-offering, the sin-offering, the peace-offering for example. All the fragrance of the burnt-offering going up to God was accompanied by the oblation, and yet it involved the fire. When the Spirit came down at Pentecost, “there appeared to them parted tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them”, Acts 2:3. That was not the complacency of the dove. It does not say that anything was consumed by the fire, but the Spirit came in that way to meet what might potentially arise, graciously taking up His place in power and service among saints here. The fire in relation to the oblation was to cause the fragrance to rise to God. The offering had both oil and frankincense upon it, showing how acceptable and attractive all was to God. Further down, the mingling with oil (v.5) no doubt has a reference to the entire life of the Lord Jesus, while the anointing with oil might have more particular reference to His baptism and taking up public service, but all was so acceptable and delightful to God.

Now it might seem that this is all a very objective presentation of things, but verse 3 brings out that this had to become food for the priests, holy food. It is indeed a holy subject. Firstly, the oblation was offered to God, but it is good for us to be reminded that it became food for the priests. Do we sufficiently feed upon God’s delight in Christ? Do we sufficiently ponder over the perfect evenness that marked the Lord Jesus, suggested in the reference to the fine flour? I had the exercise that, as we ponder this, it would help us to become more like Him. Would we not like to be more like Christ as under God’s eye? From one point of view, we are altogether like Christ because God “has taken us into favour in the Beloved”, Eph.1:6. I am before God in all the acceptability of the Lord Jesus Himself, but in a practical, formative way, the Spirit of God is still operating here in order to form in the saints what is like Christ. The final answer will be in the bride being altogether suited to the Bridegroom. It is understandable that there must be a perfect answer to satisfy the heart of that blessed Man.

The fragrance of the oblation went up as a sweet odour to God. We are surrounded in this present evil world with so much that is offensive to God. There is an increasing need for us to seek the help of the Spirit every day to be occupied with Christ. Paul was so occupied with the Lord Jesus that Christ was his life. I feel the word is somewhat brief, but I trust sufficient to exercise our hearts to seek to become more like Him. It is clear that the perfect evenness of the Lord Jesus was delightful to God in its fragrance. It is clear that it was perfectly acceptable to the Spirit in that He descended as a dove upon Jesus while He was here as Man. I think it would create the desire with us to become more like Him in these features of perfection. May the Lord bless the word and cause profit in our own souls from it.

Address at Endbach

7 October 2017

J. Laurie