DEVOTION AND COMMITTAL
I desire to say a few words about this chapter for our encouragement. It describes certain features of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. We have no description of the actual resurrection but we have certain circumstances that surround it. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus was secret; no eye witnessed the Lord Jesus coming out of the tomb, but since He stepped out of the tomb He has maintained, and never given up, the initiative. He set something on and has maintained it from that moment right down to the present day. We are to be exercised to be intelligently involved in the initiative that the Lord is maintaining at the present time.
These two women came to look at the sepulchre and they found an angel sitting on the stone which he had rolled away. “There was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending out of heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it”. There is contempt in the fact that he sat upon it. What power and authority were with that angel! “His look was as lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became as dead men”. Every opposition, every obstacle, was overcome. The angel answering said to the women, “Fear not ye”. The guards became as dead men but the angel said to the women, “Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus the crucified one”. The divine initiative was to be understood by persons who were devoted to the crucified One and who were able to bear the public reproach that attached to Him. He is the living One, and they came to know Him as the living One, but they were able for the reproach of the crucified One. I suppose these were two of the women who stood by the cross in John 19. Mary of Magdala certainly was one of them; they were prepared to be publicly identified with the crucified One. That is a test for every one of us; it is a test for our young people at school and older ones in offices and workshops, but these are the persons who become initiated into the understanding of what the Lord is doing. “Fear not ye”, the angel said, “He is not here, for he is risen, as he said”.
Then the angel invites them, “Come, see the place where the Lord lay”. They come under direction; they accept direction. That would also be a test for every one of us, whether we are living by the Lord’s direction or living our own lives according to our own ideas. These women are in the divine initiative. None of us, nor all of us together, are able for the initiative. The Lord has the initiative and we are to be concerned to be in the initiative that the Lord is setting on and maintaining. The women who were prepared to be identified with the crucified One are subject to divine direction. There are certain directions, certain commandments, that are to be regarded as obligatory or we are not really in the initiative the Lord is maintaining.
These women go out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and run to bring His disciples word. As initiated into the Lord’s directions they are subject and they move quickly; they run. They are in it with enthusiasm and with devotion. How much that is needed in our day because we tend to be half-hearted. We tend to put our own things first and the Lord’s things come second, or in some third or fourth place maybe. True joy only comes from being committed and devoted.
Then the Lord Himself confirms them. The angel directed them, and these women were subject to the direction and the Lord confirms them in it. Ministry gives us some idea of divine direction and as we commit ourselves to it the Lord Himself would confirm it to us by the Spirit. We would have a sense of the Lord’s approval. There would be something sadly lacking in our lives if we did not have some sense of the Lord’s approval. It would not be public; it would be something secret, by the Spirit, but the Lord would give us some sense that He approves of the course we are on.
All is set on by the Lord and then in the section from verse 11 the enemy becomes active; but he is too late. He deceives some; we know how busy the enemy is in deceiving; but already something is set on. It is interesting to read the first three chapters of the Acts and find Christianity established and there is no word of any opposition, nor any activity of the enemy. Not until chapter 4 does the enemy become active; but it is too late. Things are already established; the Holy Spirit has formed the house; the body of Christ is already formed. The enemy does not have the initiative; the Lord has. Once the Lord sets things on the enemy attacks and would corrupt if we allowed him, but it is a great encouragement to see that the Lord is the Initiator.
So in the last section the eleven disciples went into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed them. There are certain appointments in Christianity—the Lord’s supper, meetings which are announced; are not these appointments? Do we regard them as appointments? Do we regard them as optional or are they appointments? We are not likely to be maintained in the divine initiative unless we regard divine appointments. Then it says, “When they saw him, they did homage to him”. We are always safe as we are maintained in a worshipful attitude towards our Lord Jesus. Some doubted, and sometimes that weakness comes in with us, but the Lord’s word dispels every doubt. He says, “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”. The enemy is mighty; there is One who is almighty—“All power has been given me”. What words these are for us in our time, when things around seem confused and weak. The enemy would use public conditions to depress us, but what a word this is, “All power has been given me”. God the Father has given Him all power in heaven and upon earth. Has the Lord lost any of that power? Of course He has not. This is true up to the present day, and the Lord says, “Behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age”.
Let us all be interested in what the Lord is maintaining. He set things up here and He is maintaining them at the present time. What was established at Pentecost is maintained now in persons who are devoted to the crucified One, who are subject to divine direction, and who have worshipful spirits. These are the persons who continue in what the Lord is maintaining. May the Lord encourage every one of us to be devoted and committed.
GRANGEMOUTH
28th April 1981
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