WHAT WAS LAID ON CHRIST AND WHAT IS LAID ON BELIEVERS
A. Martin
Genesis 22: 6 (to ‘son’); Psalm 21: 4–6; Revelation 2: 24, 25; 3: 11
The two passages I have read in Revelation are in mind, but I would like first to speak of these others. The Lord Jesus spoke in His ministry of those who laid burdens upon others. He spoke of those who laid burdens heavy to bear and said they “will not move them with their finger” (Matthew 23: 4), indicating that somebody might be able to do something which is very simple but which would be a great relief to somebody else. They lay burdens heavy to bear. The Lord Jesus does not lay heavy burdens upon us, but I want first to speak of what was laid upon Him.
We know this passage in Genesis well; Isaac was going with Abraham and Abraham was to offer a burnt-offering, but I wanted to call attention to this section, “Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it on Isaac his son”. As we read the Scriptures we find that generally wood refers to an order of manhood, a kind of man. “Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it on Isaac his son”. The burntoffering was an offering that was purely for the pleasure of God, it speaks of the Lord Jesus who was devoted to the will of His God and Father even to death. If you read Leviticus you will find that the burnt-offering was completely consumed. It was for God. Our Lord Jesus came in to do the will of God. That was His purpose, it was His joy, it was what sustained Him in His pathway here. And we see in the life of Jesus an order of manhood that could accept the fire of the burnt-offering. You see the death of Jesus can be regarded in that way that He was so devoted to the will of His God and Father that He went into death. Death suggests to us the government of God, it suggests the government of God upon the race, and the Lord Jesus in all His perfection came into these circumstances. He came into a condition in which he could die. There was an order of manhood seen which had never been seen before in this world, an order of manhood that was completely pleasing to the will of His God and Father. You might say in that sense the will of His Father was laid upon Him. Abraham laid the wood upon Isaac his son. What other kind of man could sustain it, what other man could there be? Think of what was to be offered to God, it was to be what was fragrant to Him. Each time it refers to the burnt-offering in the law it speaks of it as a sweet smelling savour.
In fact if you go to Noah where you find a burnt-offering offered up to God, it says that Jehovah smelled the sweet odour. It is what is peculiarly fragrant to God, and what kind of man could present to God what is peculiarly fragrant to Him? There is only one order of man that could offer to God what was fragrant to Him, because every other man has been tainted with sin. Abraham laid the wood on Isaac his son. You will remember David, another great figure of the Lord Jesus, was sent by his father into the sphere of conflict, and when he met his own who were there they spoke against him. It says, “And David said, What have I now done? Was it not laid upon me? And he turned from him” (1 Samuel 17: 29), he turned away. The will of His God and Father was laid upon Jesus in that sense. And so He appeals to others saying, “Take my yoke upon you”, Matthew 11: 29, He says take it up, it is not a hard yoke it is not difficult, take it up. He says “learn from me”, learn from My example. You say, ‘Yes but it means that I would have to give up everything that appeals to me’. Yes it does, but it is not hard, He says, “my yoke is easy”. The will of His God and Father in that sense it was laid upon Him. He was here for that express purpose, “Was it not laid upon me?” Think of this picture that we have here of these two going on together and it says that the wood was laid upon Isaac his son. There was a character of manhood there that God had in mind was going to be able to accept the terrible fire of God’s government, and in doing so release that fragrance, that sweet odour to God, and God would find His pleasure in it. Wonderful thing to contemplate the Lord Jesus, the death of Jesus apart altogether from the question of sin; it is a wonderful thing for our contemplation! He laid His life down that He might take it again. He did that in obedience to the commandment of His Father, “I have received this commandment of my Father” he says (John 10: 18). Think of the Lord Jesus going that way, apart altogether from the question of sin, there was a character of man there that was able to take up the whole question of God’s will, and He glorified God in doing so. God was glorified in that Man. He could say, “I have glorified thee on the earth”, John 17: 4. What a wonderful blessed object we have! There was one who said, ‘There hath one object been disclosed on earth that might commend the place; but now ‘tis gone—Jesus is with the Father’ (see J. Taylor Vol. 2, p.163). Jesus is with the Father, how right it is that He should be with the Father.
The psalm speaks of majesty and splendour being laid upon Him. God in that sense has invited Him up into the highest place in the universe. Indeed He has gone beyond the created universe, He has ascended up above all heavens, above every created sphere. He has gone beyond it all, and He is now enthroned in glory at the right hand of God, “majesty and splendour hast thou laid upon him”. Oh how the psalmist was filled here with the glory of God! And God is setting Christ forth in this way, setting the Lord Jesus forth. This is a testimony. These three psalms, 19, 20 and 21, are grouped together and they speak of God’s testimony. Psalm 19 is His testimony at its basic level, the testimony of creation comes out in Psalm 19, and then the word of God and man’s conscience. Then in Psalm 20 we have the testimony of the One who was here in piety and lowliness, the One who was here subject to the will of God. In Psalm 21 we have the present testimony and that is the Lord Jesus on high, in glory, and “majesty and splendour hast thou laid upon him”.
I love that word ‘majesty’. In this country only one person is ever called ‘Your Majesty’. There are plenty of ‘Royal Highnesses’, but there is only one addressed as ‘Your Majesty’. Only One is able to have majesty and splendour laid upon Him. There He is at God’s right hand. What occupies Him there? The saints occupy Him. The saints, such as you and I. We are the subjects of those blessed conversations that go on in heaven. There is One who is crowned with majesty and glory and He is there at God’s right hand. How blessed that is beloved! Think of Him there as ascended up on high and the saints are in His heart. That is a great comfort you know. Whatever your troubles, whatever your problems may be, you know that you are in His heart. Some of us were affected a few months ago by a word from a brother, speaking from the beginning of Exodus when Jehovah said, “I know their sorrows”, Exodus 3: 7. How well He knows them, He has come into every circumstance of man. He knows them, how wonderful it is that the One who has majesty and splendour laid upon Him is the One who knows the circumstances of the saints, and he is able to intercede, he is able to speak to God in relation to the saints in order that you and I, and all of us, should be sustained in the testimony here. Blessed thing! Think of what has been laid on Jesus.
Now there is one thing that I have not spoken of that was laid upon Him. The prophet Isaiah tell us that “Jehovah hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all”, Isaiah 53: 6. We have all turned aside, we have all gone astray. “Jehovah hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all”. I wonder if everybody here in this room is aware of that, are you conscious of that? Can you say from the assurance of your heart that the One who is now enthroned in glory is the One who had my sins laid upon Him. I tell you, whoever you may be, if you do not know that from the assurance of your heart, before this day is out, you need to get on your knees because you have too much to lose. You need to know that all your sins were laid upon Him. There is a figure in the Old Testament of the scapegoat, and when it came every year to the day of atonement, Aaron laid his hands on the scapegoat, on the head of the goat, and that goat was sent away to a land apart from men. The Lord Jesus went away, He took away the sins of all who believe on Him, and now He is exalted on high and majesty and splendour have been laid upon Him. You must still lay your hand upon Him. He is there in glory, you know, but in the type of the burnt-offering, when the offerer came with the burnt-offering, it was for his acceptance to God, and he laid his hand on the offering and the offering was slain.
He realised that he could only be accepted before God as identified with that perfect offering. Have you laid your hands upon Him? Have you laid your hands upon Him as the One in whom your acceptance before God is secured. It is so important to do so.
I might add that there were other offerings, there was another offering where the offerer laid his hand on the offering, and that was the peace-offering. The offerer brought the peace-offering into the court of the tabernacle and he laid his hand on the peace-offering and it was slain. The peaceoffering was given when someone wanted to give a thanksgiving to God or make a commitment to God. They brought a peace-offering and they laid their hands on that offering, identified themselves with it and the offering was slain and they had their companions brought in. And part of that offering was given to the priest, the shoulder and the breast were given to the priest, but the offerer and all his companions, all those he had invited, would sit in the court of the tabernacle and they would eat it, they would partake of it together. It is a great expression of fellowship, and as laying our hand on the offering it is saying that our fellowship has its origins in the death of Jesus. If there is any fellowship that does not have its origins in the death of Jesus, believe me, that fellowship is doomed to failure. But you know in the death of Jesus there is established that which is going to last, which is secure, and in which His people have their part. I have digressed actually, I was speaking of what was laid on Jesus, but I want to speak about what He would lay upon us.
Now the Lord Jesus is very gracious and in Revelation 2 He is speaking to those in the assembly in Thyatira. Now as we know, the various assemblies in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 represent different stages of the church history and Thyatira represents basically what has grown out of the church, that professes to be representative of it all, has accommodated the world, and in our day has amassed great riches and has operated on the principles of the world. That is what has happened that is around us. We cannot deny that. That has happened publicly. The Lord Jesus addresses some among them saying, I am going to lay something on you; He actually uses the word ‘cast’. I was interested in that, I am not sure what we would make of that, “I do not cast upon you any other burden; but what ye have hold fast till I shall come”.
Now the assembly in Philadelphia was quite different, they were those who just had a little power, they did not claim anything but they knew the Lord. You cannot identify Philadelphia with any company today, you cannot identify Laodicea with any company today, what you can find is a state of heart, and I would love my heart to be in accord with Philadelphia’s. And they had the Lord, they knew the Lord and He says to them, “I come quickly—hold fast what thou hast”. Many of us naturally would say, Well I have not got much; but I was thinking about this word, “hold fast what thou hast”. What have you got? Every one of us here has got something. Do you know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour? Hold fast to that, never let it go. You say, Well that is elementary, that was my first impression of the Lord Jesus, still hold fast to it. It is a great thing to maintain your first impression, to keep it alive in your soul. “Hold fast what thou hast”. I say do you know Him as your Lord? That is a step further. Have you owned Him as your Lord, so that you own that He has undisputed rights over you? Hold fast to that. And if you have owned Him as your Lord then you have come into the kingdom, and the Lord Jesus speaks about the kingdom as a gift does He not? He says it is the good pleasure of my Father to give you the kingdom. Hold on to that, the kingdom is a sphere of protection, a realm where people are safe because it is all under the control of the One who is the Lord. It is all under His hand, and the influence of heaven is known in the kingdom, how blessed that is. If you know Jesus as Lord then hold fast to that, and hold fast to the truth of the kingdom, hold fast to the light of it.
We have been speaking of the Lord Jesus as Head. Hold to that truth, hold to the truth of the head. He is Head of the body. He is soon to be seen publicly as the Head of every principality and authority. He has that place of headship. He is the Head of every one, Head of every man, He has that position; hold fast to that truth. The apostle speaks of those who were diverted, who followed the reasonings of man’s mind, and superstition and things like that and he says “not holding fast the head”, Colossians 2: 19. Hold fast to that. How blessed that is! You have the gift of the Holy Spirit and how blessed that is! So you are set up with Christ in glory, and with the Holy Spirit here, power to go forward, power in the testimony, power to serve God. How richly endowed you are! Do not underestimate that, He says hold fast to it. These are things we are to value, these are things which are to be significant in our lives. If you have the Holy Spirit what else do you have? Have you eternal life? The well of water springs up to eternal life. You have eternal life and that life is in the Son, in Jesus. The apostle writes to Timothy and he says, “Lay hold of eternal life” (1 Timothy 6: 12), in other words appreciate it, value it. “Hold fast what thou hast”. You might say, Well how am I going to enjoy it? Look around you! You have brethren; hold on to your brethren. Too many of our brethren have found other things to interest them. Let us hold fast to our brethren. In the word to Philadelphia He says, “I come quickly—hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”. “I come quickly”. You have a hope.
Think of these things, I have just mentioned them. You could have a reading on each of these subjects. I have just given you a list. Think of the hope that we have. Does not every one of these items set you up in superiority to the man who does not know the Lord? Do you not feel so richly blessed as you think of what you have? And it has all been given you from the divine side, and the Lord is saying, I am not asking you any more than this—hold fast to it. And He says, “I come quickly—hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”. Do not say, Well I have the basics of Christianity and we cannot work out the most elevated thoughts, do not say that. You would be losing your crown. You would not want anyone to take your crown, would you? the most precious and greatest thoughts that God has given you and has brought you into. He says do not let anyone take them. Beloved, I feel almost embarrassed to present such a simple message. Think of what was laid upon Jesus and the sheer profundity of it all, the greatness of it all. The course of the whole universe depends upon what was laid upon Jesus, and He says, I am not asking you any more than this; hold fast what thou hast until I come. May we do so for His name’s sake.
Address at Dundee
14 March 2009