OCCASIONS OF TRANSITION
J. M. Macfarlane
Acts 9: 1–6; 10–17; Luke 2: 25–29
At a recent meeting to read the Scriptures, we considered the incoming of the Spirit in Acts and, in the reading immediately following, we read Matthew’s account of the baptism of Jesus by John at the Jordan. These were two occasions of transition of immense significance, and I am impressed that they have been presented to us in two meetings in immediate succession.
Historically, the first transition was the movement of the Lord Jesus from private obscurity into public service, accompanied by the acclaim of the Father after His baptism by John at the Jordan. As we considered the passage, the phrase which impressed me was Jesus’ statement that “the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh”, Matthew 3: 2. Men had been compelled to consider the dominion of God in heaven before this, the law given to Israel indicating what would be required of mankind in recognition of this. God also made it clear that He was not restricted to the boundaries of Israel—Nebuchadnezzar was taken a way that taught him that “the heavens do rule” (Daniel 4: 26), effectively from afar and certainly from beyond his range. What a tremendous change when the kingdom of the heavens drew near, as the Lord Jesus identified Himself with the repentant remnant and moved out into public service, the impact of which became so powerfully evident in the chapters which immediately follow.
The incoming of the Holy Spirit is detailed in Acts 2 and, once again, we are presented with a moment of great significance, another transition with powerful public impact. There were people in Jerusalem from a representation of every geographical area in the known world, and the word of
God was available in the tongues of all who were there. The arrival of the Holy Spirit was a transition of the greatest significance at the time and its power continues right up to the present.
These were divine actions which had great general and public impact and I would like to consider for a moment what happens when God enters an individual life, and gain some impression of the magnitude of the transition which can take place there. The passage in Acts refers to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus and the experience of Ananias in that connection.
The detail of Saul’s conversion is well known. The Spirit had come and the consequences of this were the focus of Saul’s attention. I suppose that if Saul had lived in another time, his energy would have been directed towards all the traditional preoccupations of a Pharisee, but his activities were now dictated in persecuting hatred against all that belonged to the testimony of Jesus and the evidently powerful presence of the Spirit. He speaks later about “being exceedingly furious against them” (Acts 26: 11), and he is turned, in this tremendous experience of individual, personal transition, into one who would suffer for the name of the Lord Jesus. His life became one of total dedication and sacrifice for the interests of the Lord Jesus and of His own. The account of the incident would suggest that he was entirely unprepared for what happened. We spoke during our last reading of the effect which the stoning of Stephen may have had upon him. We might also wonder how he may have felt as he bound and imprisoned men and women and gave his vote as they were put to death, but his public activity was unambiguous. We know, of course, what he learned of God’s purpose for him when he writes to the Galatians of “… God, who set me apart even from my mother’s womb ... “, Galatians 1: 15. God had His intentions for him but his explicit and deliberate purpose here was stopped abruptly, and he was turned completely in the opposite direction.
He immediately acknowledges the One who speaks to him as Lord and the One who speaks identifies Himself to him as Jesus. For Ananias this was a time of sharp transition too. It is often commented that he should simply have accepted the direction of the Lord without reaction, but let us not forget the huge change of perspective that was being presented to him. What did it mean to be a Christian in Damascus when Saul of Tarsus was heading there with his customary fury? This is the position in which Ananias found himself when the word of the Lord came to him that things, as they pertained to Saul, were to be completely different. What a transformation is represented in Ananias’ quick adjustment and empowerment to go to the house to which he was directed, to lay hands on Saul and say, “Saul, brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus that appeared to thee in the way in which thou camest”. Jesus had appeared to Saul in “the way”, dreadful as that persecuting way was, and Ananias can refer to it so graciously because of the grace shown to him in a very substantial change in the direction of his thoughts.
We have read about a moment of transition for Simeon. For him it was different from the experience of the two whom we have just considered: Simeon was prepared for this moment. He was waiting for this divine intervention of the incarnation and he is there in the temple, ready to receive Jesus as a baby, who had been taken there by his parents in order “that they might do for him according to the custom of the law”. It says of Simeon that “the Holy Spirit was upon him” and that he was “just and pious, awaiting the consolation of Israel”. Such a man was fit to receive a divine communication “that he should not see death before he should see the Lord’s Christ”. The incarnation was a transition of unfathomable significance in the ways of God. Simeon was waiting for it. Saul and Ananias were susceptible to adjustment when the moment arrived for them, but how fine to be found in the environment into which Jesus would come, ready and awaiting as Simeon was.
Many children would pass through the temple to have the arrangements of the law fulfilled upon them, but there is no evidence of any special direction to allow Simeon to identify Jesus. We have the immense advantage of the Spirit indwelling to fortify us in the exercises which lead to refinement of the moral and spiritual state of our souls. Whatever might be the divine mind for us, may we be found prepared as Simeon was. The great transition for all who are Christ’s is His coming to take them to be with Him. Simeon’s experience prepared him for the next great transition; he was read to “go in ... peace”. The question for each one of us is, How ready am I for the great transition that lies ahead? May these thoughts be for our encouragement.
Word in meeting for ministry, Dundee
14 August 2007