THREE IMPRESSIONS OF THE GLORY OF CHRIST
Luke 2: 25-35; 19: 1-10; 22: 39-41
I desire to speak of impressions of Christ received by these three men, that is to say Simeon, Zacchæus, and the dying malefactor.
Simeon appears as being familiar with the Holy Spirit, and on this account the small outward circumstances had not stumbled him. Joseph and Mary were poor, they could not offer the full offering mentioned in Leviticus and they could only bring a much smaller one, anticipated in grace for those who were poor. The Saviour Himself was a little child. Such were the conditions Simeon found before him when he entered by the Spirit into the temple.
The gospel of Luke generally has in view the conditions existing in localities. Luke wrote to support Paul’s ministry, and Paul had in view not only the truth of the assembly in its entirety, but also its establishment in a concrete way in localities. Thus what comes to light with Simeon is that in the power of the Holy Spirit he was able to see past the outward conditions of weakness; and he had a vision of Christ which was really great. The Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ, and this is a great appreciation of Christ. It is not simply to see Christ in relation to ourselves, to our needs, as it is said in the epistle to the Romans that “God commends his love to us, in that, we being still sinners, Christ has died for us”. It is about Christ seen in relation to us, showing us the love of God. But the Lord’s Christ or, as it is said in chapter 9, “the Christ of God” is Jesus in relation to all the thoughts of God, He in whom God has set out all for the establishment of His will.
The epistle to the Ephesians brings out for us the will of God; it refers to “the good pleasure of his will”, of what He has purposed “before the world’s foundation”, and all these thoughts of God converge in Christ as being Him who introduced them and established them for ever, and the assembly occupies the first place there. The thoughts of God truly extend a long way, and in His grace, God would have us to be intelligent as to them. Thus, the first chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians tells us not only that we have been brought into the position of sons to the glory of His grace, that we have been made fit in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offences, but it goes on to say that He has made His grace to abound towards us in all wisdom and intelligence, we having been made to know the mystery of His will, to know that He will “head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things that are upon the earth”, and that we have an inheritance in Him and with Him. All this begins to give us a great vision of the Christ of God because every thought of God, whether it relates to Israel in a day to come or to other earthly families, all necessitated the coming of Christ to assure the accomplishment of God’s will by redemption. In consequence, to consider Jesus as the Christ of God greatly enlarges us, and more, if we have the sense of the love of Christ, we grasp that we are linked eternally with Him who is the Centre itself and the Head of the whole system of glory in which God will find His rest.
Simeon had this in his heart. As I have said, everything was outwardly small and weak, a single brother, a single sister, it could be said, Joseph and Mary, and they were poor; then as to His appearance, Jesus was simply a baby; nevertheless, as Mr Raven said of Him, in this Babe there was what would come to fill all things; everything was there in His Person. It truly is a great mystery, but a mystery which belongs to God, as forming part of His glory. There is therefore no reason for us who possess the Holy Spirit to be troubled by outward smallness, for the Holy Spirit helped Simeon to see beyond the present conditions. It is said that he took the Babe in his arms; he abandoned himself entirely to the position which was before him, and having by the Spirit this view of Christ, he blessed God; he immediately became a priest. He set on in so saying the service of God in this body and showed that he was perfectly satisfied with it in himself: “Lord, now thou lettest thy bondman go, according to thy word, in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel”. The Holy Spirit made him able to see everything in an entirely new way. His thoughts are not limited to Israel, but he sets the nations in the first place, which is extraordinary for a Jew; this shows that in the power of the Spirit he could embrace all God’s thoughts. The grace of God is seen particularly in that He has taken out of the midst of the nations a people for His Name. The assembly, in great part composed of those of the nations; God had begun evidently with the Jews but now it has really become a company of Gentiles, for Jews and Gentiles have been made one, and God’s grace is magnified in that it is in the nations that God has secured this remarkable vessel the assembly.
Whoever is found in small outward conditions should be encouraged by the thought that Simeon’s appreciation as to Christ is the result of the service of the Holy Spirit to him. The Sprit sees everything according to God. We are enabled to see them thus. When one has a view of Jesus as being God’s Christ, the whole extent of God’s thoughts and His glory come before us.
Then Simeon becomes a prophet because he begins to communicate God’s mind to Mary, saying that the child “is set for the fall and rising up of many in Israel”, and that “even a sword shall go through thine own soul”, that is to say that Mary would go through the experience of losing Christ according to the flesh; she had to learn that her relationships with Jesus had to end, so as to be able to enter into a new relationship with Him in having part in the assembly. We have to learn that God works now in Christ beyond death to introduce a spiritual order of life and blessing, and that what is natural is definitely set aside. Natural relationships and affections evidently have their place while we are down here, but they have to be replaced by those which are spiritual and which should have the first place with us. The way in which we enter upon them is our appropriation of the death of Christ. We must eat His flesh and drink His blood, in doing which we find that we have life eternal: we abide in Him and He in us.
Now, we come to Zacchæus. This is about an individual appreciation of Christ in contrast to his smallness of stature. I suppose most of us are conscious of our smallness of stature in the presence of God’s thoughts. Zacchæus is presented as a man marked by small stature, but he had however sincere desires towards Christ. He sought to see Jesus “who he was”, and he used a lot of energy to reach his end. He ran, and climbed up a tree, thinking to have by this means a better view of Jesus. But this is not how to overcome smallness of stature. We could use a lot of energy in our desire to grow in God’s things, for example we indulge in a lot of reading, and I have nothing to say against indulging in reading. Paul enjoins Timothy to give himself to reading, and evidently we must read as much as we can, first the scriptures and then the spiritual ministry, without forgetting our meetings. But this by itself will never result in increase in stature. If I have a good natural capacity, intellectual capacity and an excellent memory, I could acquire a great knowledge of the truth without it resulting in the least increase in stature. The result of the activities of Zacchæus placed him in a position where he had to look down to see Jesus. It is what we do, even ourselves, if we think that by our natural capacity and the energy of our spirit we can grasp the things of God. However, the Lord saw that Zacchæus was sincere and he says to him, “make haste and come down”. Truly there is only one way of increasing in God’s things and Zacchæus had to abandon what could not make him grow. He had to haste and come down for the Lord says to him, “to-day I must remain in thy house”. Let us reflect for a little on what this meant for Zacchæus. What an experience it would be for him! To his credit, it is said that he came down with haste and received Him with joy. He bowed to the word of the Lord and received Him with joy into his house.
I ask myself perhaps what I would feel if the Lord said to me that He desired to spend a day in my house. We could say that we would be very happy, and this would probably be true for the most of us. There would however be something exercising about this, and one could well ask oneself what the Lord could disapprove. He entered into a house in Bethany, the house of Martha; she received Him into her house, but the Lord found conditions which did not please Him entirely for Martha began to complain. There is not here any suggestion that the Lord had found anything in the house of Zacchæus that made the Lord displeased. Zacchæus had spent a whole day with the Lord and he had been able to see how He acted in the circumstances that marked everyday life; he would have heard what He had to say, and I think that one could perhaps be sure that the more Zacchæus had the Lord before him, the more he grew, without being aware of it, without being occupied with himself. A true knowledge according to God is really the result of having Christ before the heart, because the work of God all goes on until we arrive together at “measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”, and this is true even as to what concerns the saints individually. Paul tells us in his epistle to the Colossians that his great preoccupation was to present every man perfect in Christ. Thus Zacchæus stood there before the Lord and said to Him: “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I return him fourfold”. I think that Zacchæus exposes there what had already marked him, that is to say the fear of God and the exercise to be practically righteous. The Lord accepts what he says and declares that “he also is a son of Abraham”. But I would desire in drawing attention to this incident to show in what way one can triumph over smallness of stature in having Christ continually before the heart.
In the last passage that I have read, we see this malefactor who in the presence of death takes account of Christ, distinguishing Him from every other man. The two malefactors were on the point of death and they really represent every man, the number two is enough to give the idea. The malefactor in whom God had worked says to his companion: “we indeed justly, for we receive the just recompense of what we have done, but this man has done nothing amiss”. This brings to light the unique glory of Christ, for of no other person could it be said “He has done nothing amiss”. It is a glory that comes to light when one contemplates death as weighing on every man. This glory is presented to us in the fifth chapter of the epistle to the Romans, where Christ is set in contrast to Adam. Adam has brought his entire race into death, while Christ has come as a new Head for man, so as to take a place in which He can communicate life to those whom God gives to Him. But before taking this place, He had to accomplish redemption, and to this end, He had to be “This man has done nothing amiss”.
I speak in that way of what is very simple and which can be understood by everyone, it is a glory that is placed distinctly on the Lord in contrast with every other man, which we find in the fifth chapter of Revelation. John sees at the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne a book written on the front and the back, sealed with seven seals, and an angel cried saying “Who is worthy to open the book?” Nobody could be found either in heaven or above the heaven who could open the book or break its seals. This book spoke of the ways of God, for the judgment of a world that had turned away from Him. If it is a matter of dealing with evil, no one of them, sinners, has any right to take care of it. John wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, but one of the elders said to him: “Do not weep”. The elders represent the saints and they are intelligent. “The lion which is of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the book, and its seven seals”, and in looking, John sees a lamb. The elder had said, “Behold the lion which is of the tribe of Juda”, but John sees a lamb standing as slain, and what follows in this chapter is a new song addressed to the Lamb: “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open its seals; because thou hast been slain, and has redeemed to God by thy blood out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and made them kings to our God and priests, and they shall reign over the earth”. There is then a great acclamation: “Worthy is the Lamb that has been slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength, and honour and glory and blessing”.
The necessity that redemption should be accomplished introduces a glorious distinction for our Lord Jesus Christ as being Him who has done nothing amiss. It is He who is morally qualified personally to accomplish the great work of redemption through death, on the ground of which God secures priests for His service, and kings to represent Him with dignity in the administration of the world to come. We see therefore what appreciation this malefactor had, and he takes the occasion to render testimony to Christ. All around him was hostile to Him; but this man had received light that came from God and in the presence of death, this death which the two malefactors deserved, and into which the Lod had entered in grace. He says, “This man has done nothing amiss”. The Lord replies, “Verily, I say to thee: To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise”. Paradise represents the sphere of the pleasure of God and each of us will be there with Christ. It is important to have the sense of the unique character of Christ and to realise that He fills paradise with the incense of His excellence. I believe that all that God will secure for His pleasure in the world to come, as through eternity, will be the incense of the love and perfection of Christ.
I underline the importance of having by the Spirit a view of Christ as being the Christ of God, to triumph over conditions of smallness; and then the importance of realising that He is the measure of all that is for the pleasure of God. If we are short in stature, our only means of increasing is to have Christ before us. Then, in the presence of death, considered as extending to all, the unique character of the glory of Christ stands out in that He alone could accomplish redemption on the basis of which the glory and rest of God are secured.
VALENCE
1st November 1957
From Paroles d’Édification Mutuelle
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