“THE DEATH OF THE LORD”
John 10: 17,18 (to “from me”); 20: 16-18; 21: 7
We each take part on the first day of the week in the Lord’s supper; it is something that we regularly have our part in, and yet we need to be preserved in the distinctiveness and the uniqueness of the occasion. Paul is speaking of it here and I want to refer to this word that he uses: “the death of the Lord”. Such a One, dear brethren, did not need to die. That would be well known, but the reality of it needs to be constantly before us, that such a One did not need to die. “Ye announce the death of the Lord”: that is the One to whom supreme rights and authority belong, and that is the One who died. He is the One of whom it says that without Him was not one thing made that was made (see John 1:3). The Lord who died is the One who calmed the storm, saying “Peace be still” (Mark 4: 39 KJV), and the One who raised the dead. I only refer to these things because they bring out the fact that such a One had no need to die, death did not attach to Him. It is a common thing for men to die, but the death of the Lord was something unique, something outstanding. I feel the need of understanding it better, for there are depths in it that would be well worth pondering. It meant the end of many things; we see that with Mary, what it meant for her that the Lord had died. It was not just her parents or her brother; it meant everything to her that the Lord had died. It means many things to us too, dear brethren. It means that God is no longer looking at men in responsibility, that what we are after the flesh is ended; there is a new beginning, an ending of one order of things and a new start because the Lord has died. It has meant a clearance, it has meant stable ground being established. Because of who He was death could not hold Him.
The passages we have had today, specially those in early Acts, speak of the fragrance and the sweetness of who it was that died. Peter, in that preaching we were reading of, says it was not possible that He should be held by death’s power. 0 beloved, death was invaded, the grave was invaded in the death of the Lord. Whatever bands they may have set about Him—His body bound and placed in a rock, a great stone set on the tomb—they did not apprehend who it was that was there in death: it was the Lord. We sing so simply in that hymn and yet so meaningfully—
Death had to bow (Hymn 152)
Death had to bow because of who was there. So Paul says “ye announce the death of the Lord, until he come”. We need to give ourselves to think of who it was. It was not just that men took Him—that is one side, that men took Him and crucified Him, having said they would not have this Man to reign over them, a side we may dwell on often—but what impresses me here is who it was who was there and that death could not hold Him. The cross, the nails, Pilate, the Roman soldiers: all were powerless in the presence of the death of the Lord. It brings home to us how much He loved us, dear brethren. If He had no need to die, why did He die? It was to express His love for His saints. It was to establish ground for God and men. The relationship was disrupted, so broken in upon by sin, and He died that the ground and communion of that relationship might be established in a solid way. I say again He had no need to die, but He died as an expression of His love for His saints. That is what we remember as we come together each first day of the week, that there is One who died and that One was the Lord, the One to whom all authority, all power, all might and majesty belongs; voluntarily He went into death.
Does it not endear Him to our affections, the One who we have been speaking of, that He went this way? As He says about Himself: “No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends”, John 15: 13. Beloved, what an incentive to be occupied with Him, that He went this way as an expression of His love for us! The emblems, the loaf and cup, as we see them week after week, are simple things in themselves but they bring home to us who it was that died, who it was that lay in the grave, who it was that rose again because it was not possible that He, such a One as the Lord, could be held by the power of death. What results have been secured! He has laid a ground by going that way, as I have said, for God to have new relations with men; God is looking at men now in grace. If God was taking up men in their responsibility it would be in judgment, but because of the death of the Lord there is blessing. Paul speaks here of the cup of blessing which we bless. What blessing there is, beloved, flowing so freely because the Lord has died.
Then, as I have said, it has ended for ever an order of things after the flesh; the death of the Lord lies upon all that we are in the flesh. In His death He has ended the order of man that was so obnoxious to God that there may come into expression another order of man, another kind of man. Then it says as often: “as often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye announce the death of the Lord, until he come”. As we are impressed each first day of the week in a special way with His love, with who it was that went this way, we are also reminded that there is nothing to hinder Him coming; it says “until he come”. 0h there is nothing to hinder Him! Paul says about Him that He has been placed above every principality and authority and power and every name named (see Eph 1: 21); that is the place that He fills today. So it is “until He come”. Do we feel that? Do we feel it every day of the week? We feel it especially on the first day of the week, that the earth is so unresponsive, men are so unmoved by the death of the Lord. Well, if earth is silent the saints announce it. Think of a few in one place or another gathering together; there is an announcement in that that the Lord has died. Why would persons leave their homes, why would persons leave many things, to assemble, in small outward conditions it may be? It is because they are remembering their Lord, the Lord, the only One. No other person can fill the place that He fills, and there is no other man to be announced; what is announced is the death of the Lord. You can well imagine the conditions if some one well known, some one who ruled a certain area, for whom all the residents perhaps worked, owed their bread and butter to, died. What a scene of calamity there would be! Outwardly, dear brethren, that is our position, that the One to whom we owe everything has died here but we know Him as alive from the dead. We know that death could not hold Him, but He died to the order of things here, and we gather together announcing His death until He come. It may be soon, we announce it in hope, we announce it in the expectation that there is nothing that can stop Him coming again.
What results were secured in that death of His! It is not only an expression of His love to His saints but there is a sense of the Father’s pleasure in that He laid down His life of Himself. He says “On this account the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again”—as if there is an added reason for the Father’s appreciation of Jesus. We have been speaking today of the need for contemplating; what an area to think about, the reason for the Father’s delight in Jesus! It is not only that there was a Man here upon whom the heavens could open, not only that there was One here that went about doing good, but there was One here who could lay down His life and take it again. What results, beloved, that has secured for the Father! What results for us! Salvation is preached because He laid down His life and took it again. There is hope for all humanity: there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, the name of a glorified Saviour. There is hope for all humanity, confidence about everything in Him. But here in this verse there is a sense given of the Father’s added pleasure, that Jesus laid down His life and took it again. That has opened the door, beloved, for the Father to be known; it has opened the door that man in sin and sins could be relieved of his load; it has opened the door for the Father in His blessing and love to embrace the sinner. Oh, no wonder at the Father’s delight! It reminds us of Luke 15, the father’s delight in receiving a returning one. It is all because “I lay down my life that I may take it again”.
We need to be constantly reminded, I believe, of the ground on which we stand; it is the finished work of Jesus, the ground of our blessing, the ground of our hope. I like the words of that hymn where the writer says—
I stand upon His merit,
I know no other stand.
Anne R Cousin (1824-1906)
Our position in glory, our place at home in the Father’s house, has its foundation in the finished work of Jesus. “On this account the Father loves me”. The Father had thoughts about men before time began; the Father purposed and chose to have men before Him in sonship before time began, but what gave effect to those thoughts and purposes was that one divine Person, our Lord, laid down His life and took it again. What a basis to pin our hope on! But what a basis to construct our lives, our future, on! So many things come into our path and cause us despair, cause us exercise; the flesh in its activities causes us sorrow. We have always to get back to the finished work of Jesus. “On this account the Father loves me”. What has come out of that death beloved! What results have accrued to the Father from the death of the Lord! It has meant that atonement has been made, something that never happened before. In the old economy a man could never enjoy forgiveness in an absolute way, but because the Lord has laid down His life there is forgiveness and blessing for all. There is a certain width come into expression in this dispensation that was in no other, because the Lord has died and risen again. He says “I lay down my life that I may take it again”. Our hope, beloved, is founded on what He has done, but it is also in Him where He is—“take it again”. That emphasises again what we sang—
Death could not Thee enslave,
Death had to bow!’ (Hymn 152)
He went through death in the majesty and glory of His own Person. It reminds us of the Jordan driven back, the water was not even in sight. It reminds us of the ark in the house of Dagon; they went in that morning and Dagon had fallen on his face. They went in the next morning and it was broken in pieces. It was the majesty and glory of who was there, represented in the ark. The whole world’s-system has been set aside, it has been spoiled; indeed the power of death was broken because He, the Lord, laid down His life that He might take it again. Death had reigned, its power had laid claim to every other man, but there the law of death had to bow. He is risen, He took it again; He has set aside the might of that system, He has set aside the one who had the might and the power of death. He has not only set aside death but He has set aside the one who had the might and the power of it. The whole thing is broken for those that believe on Him, for those that have Him as their hope.
What a future is opened up! Is it our future? Is our future bounded by things here? So often it is. So many of our disappointments are because our hopes have been short of the fact that the Lord has died. Many things we put our confidence in; we can each think of our own lives, our own sorrows, maybe even our present exercises, things have not worked out the way we thought they would. It may be that we have not been near enough to the death of the Lord; maybe we have been trying to find our interests, our life, in a system to which He has died. That verse that we read this afternoon, “in that he lives, he lives to God”, means, I think, the whole system that He is active in, and He would have us with Him in it; because He has taken His life again, He has made way for us. What words of comfort! He says to the disciples in chapter 14, “because I live ye also shall live”, v 19. Think of that beloved, having an outlook, having a hope, having a future before us that depends on Him, the Lord, the One who died and the One who lives again. I referred to this to bring out something of the Father’s pleasure, that the Father is now unburdened in His affections because Jesus has laid down His life and taken it again. What a doorway is open for communion between the Father and His children! What a doorway of blessing and joy between the Father and His sons! It is not founded, beloved, on how you feel; we are so often upset because of how we feel; these are real matters in our lives, that we do not feel up to things, we feel depressed, we feel out of things, many feelings creep into the human heart and give Satan an advantage to bind us. Beloved, our hope, our standing is in Him; “because I live ye shall live also”. The Lord who died is in a position where no power on earth, no authority can overcome Him. He has spoiled every principality and authority, Paul says, making a show of them publicly. The whole system of ordinances has been set aside and broken, these things that you may feel make you unworthy, which may be of Satan to rob you of your joy. The Lord has died to bring you into an area where joy is unspoiled because it depends on Him, the One who we remember each first day of the week, the One that has died and lives again that He may rule over us.
With Mary I just thought that there may be some indication of how we come into something of the Father’s joy and the blessing that there is for those who appreciate and announce the death of the Lord. I do not think the announcement is just in one action; it would be a characteristic thing that we announce the death of the Lord. How we do our work, how we live in our homes, how we are at school, whatever area of responsibility each of us may be in, there is room for us to fill out that responsibility announcing the death of the Lord. Why is it these questions arise in our hearts so often? Why is it that certain persons go to places to which we do not go? Why is it that people would be in things that we are not in?—because the Lord has died. The system around us, beloved, has rejected the Lord. Things are going on in the world which disregard that the Lord has died. He has died in relation to those things, He has died because there was no room for Him, He was disowned, “the stone which they that builded rejected”, Luke 20: 17. But He died—what grace! It is love for that Man that is the reason I do not go to certain places. It is because He has died, and that system or that thing sets aside the fact that He died. Could you have found Mary in any of the systems of the world at this moment? Why was Mary here a lonely woman? There would have been dozens of reasons for Mary not to have been here. The one reason why she was here was that the Lord had died. Is that why you are where you are, beloved? It may be that you are in very trying situations ofttimes, feeling the bereavement of loved ones or the lack of company of persons whom you used to know. That sorrow is known to the Lord and it is because He has died. That is why Mary was here, because the Lord had died, but she was not left long with her sorrow and neither will you be. As we move in simplicity in relation to the death of the Lord we will not be left long in our sorrow. There was a man earlier in this book of whom it says, “they cast him out” (chap 9: 34), but Jesus found him. It is very like the position of many; if we are true to the death of the Lord the Lord will find us because He is outside that system, He is outside that place you may have been invited to. But He found Mary, and what a message He had! He was ready to say, “go to my brethren”. I read this passage because there was something here that had its beginnings in the death of the Lord—“my brethren”. They were that because He had died to remove every stain that was upon them. They were not exactly His brethren in this sense before. Peter and the others loved Him and had been with Him, but they were now His brethren because He had removed every stain that attached to them. They are looked at here as on new ground and able to receive a message. As we are true and appreciate and think about the death of the Lord we come into a system where He can call us “my brethren” and can say “my Father and your Father ... my God and your God”. What a message to a woman who was true to the death of the Lord! We prove it ourselves in some measure as we announce the death of the Lord until He come. Do we not experience in some measure the sweetness of being His brethren and of His word “my Father and your Father”? These are things that are known in the experience of the soul and they give strength and stability to us in our lives as we are true to the death of the Lord. Mary comes with the message; the Lord does not expand on it, He just leaves the kernel of these choicest things with her, and she comes and says she has seen the Lord. The Lord - there is no one wondering who it is; she says she had seen the Lord. At that moment Peter and some of them may have been under other influences. Luke shows us that some of them were disappointed, full of grief; Mary comes and says she had seen the Lord. Everything is back on a sound basis now she has seen the Lord. He is going on with them; He came in in these chapters and went out. You might have thought that everything was finished; Peter had denied Him, the rest had gone to their homes; would He go on just with Mary? No, He goes on with them. It says that she had seen the Lord and that He said these things to her, and that fact rallies the brethren.
May we be rallied, beloved, more and more in relation to the death of the Lord. In one sense the reason for our gathering here is because the Lord has died. It is the reason we have to leave other things. Mary had to leave even loved ones and we have to leave them so as to announce the death of the Lord. It meant that there was nothing in Mary that was out of keeping with her Lord who had died but now was risen. Think of the Lord here with a message looking for someone to listen to it. He would fain have told it to Peter I am sure; He would fain have told it to Thomas. As the chapter goes on, Thomas comes into it, Peter comes into it, they all come into it. But here is a woman who gets the message because she felt the death of the Lord. May we be helped, dear brethren, to feel it more. These men in the next chapter went off somewhat; they were overcome through their own thoughts but there comes a point when someone says “It is the Lord”. Maybe it has been the experience of some of us, that we have felt the coldness of the night, we have felt the labour and toil of circumstances, until we have come to see that the Lord was some-where else. Maybe we have been toiling in an area that the Lord was not in, maybe it has been hard going, maybe you have felt like giving up. Do not give up, beloved, but turn to the Lord; He is still active, He is still available, He is still in control. These men here were soon revived to their freshness - “Come and dine”. Oh what the Lord has! “In that he lives, he lives to God”. He is going on with a system of things where there is no breakdown, where there is no failure. He invites you today to come and dine. May we be helped to discern Him. John had no difficulty in saying who it was because of what he saw. Oh the effects of grace! Who else could it have been? When I have been off on my own way, my own will maybe leading me in a path that was away from the Lord, who else would provide this haul of fishes? Who else would draw me back?—No one but the Lord. He is still in control, He never loses His grip on the believer. Those who once put their trust in Him are His for ever. They may get away but the Lord holds the reins and He is in control; and He would be saying this word perhaps to some of us today, giving us an expression afresh of His grace which is still flowing in its sweetness. They cast the net and could no longer draw it for the multitude of fishes. As they saw this haul the disciple says, “It is the Lord”. May we be helped, dear brethren, to discern Him, to discern His features. The bride in the Song of Songs was slow, but what she found on the handles of the lock showed that her beloved had been there and left some impression. I believe that the Lord would leave that among us, some impression of Himself that would quickly turn us to be where He is—“in that he lives, he lives to God”. May we be helped to be with Him as He is moving on, for His Name’s sake.
MAIDSTONE
8th April 1977
At three-day meetings with Mr A John E Welch