“MY DELIGHT”
J. Lovie
Luke 3: 21, 22; Isaiah 62: 3, 4 (to “Married”)
I believe, dear brethren, the Lord would have us use the present occasion for our upbuilding and our edification. The marriage of our dear brother and sister would be in all our minds and therefore we think of what Paul says, “I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly”, Ephesians 5: 32.
As you read the gospels, you could write over them, ‘My delight is in Him’, and as you ponder the epistles, you could write over them, “My delight is in her”, the epistles developing the great thought of the assembly. How wonderful the moment was when the economy came into the view of men, the Holy Spirit descending and the Father’s voice proclaiming His delight in Jesus in manhood here. Think of what entered into those secret years, those hidden years, in the life of Jesus. This was said as He was beginning to be about thirty years old. In coming into manhood the Lord Jesus came into a position to which obedience applied and in which love was manifested. God coming into touch with men by way of these blessed relations of affection and finding in Jesus One who fully answered to every delight of His heart. “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. We should ponder more the features of Jesus which afforded the Father such pleasure. While He asserts His sonship at twelve years of age, we have those hidden years, the eighteen years, in which such moral beauty yielded delight to the heart of the Father. I believe we should get into the presence of the Father that He should show us the things in the life of Jesus that so afforded Him such delight. As you think of every day, every morning His ear was opened.
There was the love of settled disposition that the Lord enjoyed. As coming into manhood He came into the Father’s bosom. He came into a relationship which involved nearness and affection—wonderful glory shining in Christ in manhood in the bosom of the Father, the revelation of God proceeding through Him as in that place of love. But there are also the movements of Jesus that drew out the Father’s love. “On this account”, He could say, “the Father loves me, because I lay down my life”, John 10: 17. Let us, dear brethren, dwell more on the perfections of Christ’s humanity as affording delight to the heart of God. “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. This is addressed personally to Jesus. John says, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”, John 3: 35. What an administration that is! an administration by the Son in the consciousness of the Father’s love.
You might say our brother is entering upon an administration that he has not had before. He will have a house and he will have a household, he will have a sphere of administration over which in a certain way headship would operate, but into which love would enter and regulate.
If there is one thing more than another needed amongst us it is the increase in love, our stock of love to be added to. Many difficulties would quickly resolve themselves if love was operative as it is in the holy area of divine Persons, the divine nature coming into expression in our activities, in the spheres over which we may have any feature of influence and any feature of service.
In Isaiah we have this reference, “My delight is in her”. And as we said, you go through the epistles and find out the features proper to the assembly that call forth the delight of Christ. The section has to do with Jerusalem and Zion, the great principle of divine sovereignty, mercy flowing out in what it is in divine sovereignty, what we sang of together in our hymn (Hymn 58), how we have been brought in on the principle of mercy, the sovereignty of divine mercy in Zion, Jerusalem involving the city and relating to the assembly. As you go through the book of the Acts you find assembly features appearing; you look now for what represents the assembly in places. The local meeting becomes attractive to you. You say, “My delight is in her”, and you commit yourself to it. We are not just a few isolated persons who are seeking to walk in the truth, but we are persons drawn together under the influence of Christ, in love for Christ, and finding our part together in local assemblies, walking in the light of it and endeavouring to represent what is proper to the assembly in local meetings.
I believe it is a challenge to us in these days when so much exists around in Christendom by way of profession, to be true to Christ and afford Him delight. It may be only a few in a place, but it is to call out what is for the heart of Christ, be it but in a few, that is characteristically representing assembly features, assembly affections, assembly fidelity. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 11: 2, “I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ”. He served them in view of this element of chastity, in committal to divine interests, being secured. At the end of the second letter some persons were even saying that Paul was a reprobate. He is not troubled about that, but says, “Ye … do what is right”, 2 Corinthians 13: 7.
Paul would labour among them that the great feature of righteousness be maintained. This chapter in Isaiah opens with that, “for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be still, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a torch that burneth” (Isaiah 62: 1).
What a time we are in, dear brethren, when there is to be what is for the heart of Christ in local places, maybe so scattered abroad, but nevertheless what is so choice in assembly features. Finally, the Lord is going to bring the whole church into the gain of what Philadelphia has stood for in the time of His absence. The assembly is not a fag-end; things are not going to fizzle out; things are going to be maintained in fidelity and in freshness, and the word here is, “My delight is in her”.
I commend this to all of us in our local meetings, that the interests of Christ in the place, and what is best for His interests, be taken on by us and that our activities are ministering to the peace, happiness, and enjoyment of the brethren. May our dear young brother and sister keep near the Lord and support and minister to His interests, for His sake.