"REJOICE BECAUSE YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN"
“REJOICE BECAUSE YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN”
I desire to call attention to a thought with which, I think, all will agree, and which has a prominent place in Scripture. It is this, that the privilege of being in the Lord’s company is much more blessed and of far greater importance than the most honoured and successful service here. I feel rather pressed to remind saints of this, as I fear there is often a tendency to give too much prominence to outward activity in the Lord’s work, where the blessedness of being in His company is little sought or known; and, not only so, but very often with those who do know something of the blessedness, the activity of a servant’s path so beclouds and disturbs the soul’s communion with Him that quiet moments with Himself, apart from all here, are but seldom, if at all, enjoyed. Now, great damage is caused by this, for not only is the soul impoverished and the affections dulled, but also the Lord is robbed of His portion.
It is not that I would make light of service, for it is most blessed in its place; as we find with the Lord, “I delight to do thy will, O my God”. Psalm 40:8. His pleasure was to do the Father’s will. Here we get the true idea of service. I am sure the Lord found pleasure in the service itself, as such, but His supreme delight lay in the consciousness that He was doing His Father’s will. But the great defect in a good deal of our service is that the Lord’s will is not known. I do not now refer to divine guidance in detail, but to the purpose of God. I do not think there can be any true service until this is, in some measure, apprehended. When the Lord said, “Lo, I come to do thy will”, (Hebrews 10:9) I believe He had in view the whole range [p. 2] of what God was going to accomplish in grace, and it is the privilege of every servant to be, in principle, in His position here. But for this we have to see, as I have intimated, that our place and portion with Him is “that good part”. Luke 10:42. When I lay hold of this I am in a position to know my Lord’s will, and my pleasure will be to carry it out, in my measure.
Now we shall be helped as we arrive at the Lord’s side of things and apprehend what His thoughts are. With this in view, reference has been made to this passage in Luke 10, where we have a glimpse of what occupied the Lord’s heart at that time, and, indeed, of what occupies it, we may say, at this moment. There are few passages more beautiful. It comes in at the turning point of His blessed life, at a moment when, as far as outward circumstances were concerned, there was plenty to discourage. He was there as the vessel of grace, as chapter 4 so clearly shows, anointed of the Spirit for the setting forth of all that there was in the heart of God towards man. What did He meet with in carrying out His mission of love? Rejection from the outset, and the cross at the end. At Nazareth they thrust Him out, and led Him to the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong, and at Jerusalem they led Him to Golgotha, where He was crucified. It is most touching to notice that in His private life, as seen in chapter 2, He is in favour with God and man; but when we come to chapter 4, where His public ministry begins, He becomes the object of their bitterest persecutions; and this, too, at Nazareth, where He was brought up. What brought about the change? Simply this, that in chapter 4 He begins definitely to set forth God to man. Thus the natural heart was fully exposed. The reproaches were really directed against His Father, but they fell upon Him. All this is very solemn.
[p. 3] Now these are the circumstances under which we have this beautiful passage in chapter 10. Comparing the parallel passage in Matthew, we see that His complete rejection by the nation was fully manifested. John the Baptist, too — the one above all others on earth to whom He might have looked for sympathy — began to doubt. Was the Lord indifferent to all this? Not at all. He felt all most keenly. He could say, “The reproaches of them that reproached thee have fallen upon me”. Psalm 69: 9. But look at the moral grandeur of what comes out here! “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight”. Matthew 11: 25,26. His pleasure is found in the fact that His own are the subjects of the Father’s teaching. How blessed is this! He turns away from the sufferings, rejection, and service here to another scene, which evidently opens up before Him; where the Father was to be all, and where He was to have companions, taught of the Father, with Himself. The nation was rejecting Him, and Jehovah, as a consequence, was about to reject it; He was going to hide His face from the house of Jacob. But Jesus had disciples, children given to Him of the Father, and these were precious to Him. Refused by His beloved, but faithless, nation, His heart and hand would from henceforth be devoted to them. His pleasure was found in ministering to them and in the consciousness that they were the objects of the Father’s love and care.
Now this is what we have at this moment. Through death and resurrection the Lord has entered, as Man, into that blessed scene of light and love, the circle of divine affections, from whence He came to make God known; and look! He wants us there. He “died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him”, 1 Thessalonians 5:10. This is surely our privilege now. It is the privilege of the believer to retire from his outward path of service here, and enter in spirit that blessed place where Christ is, as associated with Him.
This is the great point for the moment. But are we prepared for it? Are we ready to respond to His blessed desire to have us with Himself? Or are we going to allow other things to rob Him of what His heart is set upon? The latter is just that of which the “seventy” stood in danger. They were truly servants. They had been sent out by the Lord and endued with needed power for their mission. Now they return flushed with victory, saying, “even the devils are subject unto us through thy name”, Luke 10:17. This was encouraging as far as it went, but from the Lord’s reply we gather that they were making more of their success as servants than of their privilege as associated with Him. He ministers a mild rebuke by telling them to rejoice not that the spirits were subject to them, but rather to rejoice that their names were written in heaven. In principle He simply reminds them of their heavenly portion, and points out that this is greater and of more importance than the most successful service in this world.
May the Lord enable us all to choose the good part, for His name’s sake!