THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

Luke 8: 1-3; Mark 15: 39-41, 47; 16: 1; John 20: 1-20

You will find in these scriptures a complete soul-history, and we have read it with the thought of bringing before you the spiritual history of a soul from the start to the finish. The history of Mary Magdalene is very instructive and comprehensive. I am not sure if I shall be understood in speaking about the finish of the spiritual history of a soul. It is necessary to eliminate all idea of time. There is such a thing as the present goal in Christianity—a spiritual reality. The future goal is in actuality. The only difference between the present goal in spiritual reality and the future goal in actuality is the difference between the words reality and actuality. There is such a point as the present goal of Christianity to be reached here and now.

In Ephesians 4: 13, the apostle presents Christ as the ascended Man; he by the Spirit speaks of gifts given by the risen and ascended Christ; he speaks of the end in view, and that is, “Until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”. That, I understand, presents the present goal of Christianity. It in no way involves the termination of our life in flesh down here, and a very simple proof of your having reached the goal is that you disappear morally. When the goal is reached this disappearance takes place. It will be so in another sense with the whole assembly in the future. The assembly, as such, will disappear when the Lord takes us to be with Himself, and when the goal is reached in spiritual reality by any of us here we disappear. I feel even the statement of it to be very serious, because it tests every one of us, speaker and hearer alike.

It is beautifully illustrated in the history of Mary Magdalene. She first appears in Luke 8, and she disappears in John 20. She is not seen in John 21, or in the Acts of the Apostles or in the Epistles. Mary Magdalene is seen no more. She has disappeared. When she first appears, it is as one completely dominated by Satanic power. She is indwelt by seven demons, and when she disappears, she disappears in the assembly. That is the disappearing place. It should come home to you and to me. Have we disappeared? If her first appearance is that which speaks of sin and Satan’s power, her disappearance is lovely. Most glorious! Who would not like to disappear in the brightness and glory of His presence?

I should like to trace the spiritual journey of her soul from the start to the finish. It is like starting on a journey, to speak simply. Suppose you go from Belfast to Dublin. You live in Belfast, Belfast is the starting-point, Dublin is the goal. You go to the station and get into the train. Your goal is before you, but there are stations between Belfast and Dublin. Luke 8 is the starting-point of the spiritual journey of the soul in Christianity. John 20 gives us the goal. The other scriptures give us the stations between the starting-point and the goal. I speak in this simple way in order that every one of us may take account of ourselves in connection with the spiritual journey. The starting-point is salvation. Many of us could state the doctrine of salvation very correctly, but Luke 8 does not present the doctrine of salvation, it presents the fact of salvation. I trust salvation is a fact with every one of us here. Unless it is a fact there is no start. It is important to get a good start in one’s spiritual journey, and it is most important to get a true idea of the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. In Luke the Lord Jesus is presented as the anointed Preacher, and He preached the gospel of the kingdom; God is presented as a Saviour-God. How wonderful to come under the influence of such a blessed Preacher! Mary Magdalene comes under this preaching, with the result (it is very simple) that she is saved, “from whom seven demons had gone”. Not some of them gone and others left. They all went out, she is completely saved from the domination of Satanic power. A great many are clear about the doctrine of salvation, but it is much more important to have the fact. It meant much to Mary Magdalene. Up to this time demons had held undisputed sway in her soul, but the preaching of the Lord Jesus announcing the glad tidings of the kingdom in the power of the Holy Ghost resulted in her salvation, and seven demons had gone out of her. It was a marvellous fact to her. We need to be thoroughly stirred up, especially in a place like Belfast, where there are so many brethren and children of brethren who are familiar with the doctrine of the gospel. There is a very real danger of souls taking certain steps and assuming certain positions without real soul-history; but what about spiritual facts and spiritual history? There could be no doubt whatever as to the reality of Mary Magdalene’s start. She had got a new object for her heart and a new path for her feet. She was with the Lord and she followed Him. Is salvation such a fact to us that the One who has saved us is the object of our hearts? These women were with Him, and they followed Him, and they ministered unto Him of their substance. Sometimes people got converted, but it does not seem to affect their hearts or their feet. Mary got a new object for her heart (she was “with him”), and a new path for her feet (she “followed him”). The Lord in saving her has so touched her heart that He becomes the supreme Object of her affections. His path is her path. There is one prominent thing that characterises Mary Magdalene in scripture, and that is affection for Christ. This characterises her through every stage of her spiritual journey. Has He thus reached our hearts? When He touches our hearts, we lose sight of everything else. As Mr Darby expresses it in that beautiful hymn:-

There is but that one in the waste.

Which His footsteps have marked as His own.⁸

If He commands my heart, my eyes will have no difficulty in finding the path. Have we started in it? It is a wonderful start. Your conscience may be clear. Ah! but the question of conscience does not come in here, it is a question of the heart’s affection. I have no doubt Mary Magdalene’s conscience was quite clear. Conscience is a question of righteousness.

To turn to the Old Testament for a moment, the start for Israel came in when they stood on the Arabian bank of the Red Sea. Pharaoh and his warriors were behind them on the other side, but they were commanded to “stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah”, Exod 14: 13. There was no fighting or no talking as to what was to be done; not a blow to strike nor a word to say. Jehovah fought for them, and on the Arabian bank they saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. “Then sang Moses … this song to Jehovah”, chap 15: 1. That is the first station.

Now to come to the next. It follows naturally on the first. When you get into the train all you have to do is to sit still. The train is moving on and you do not need to struggle. The next station comes naturally in the history of the soul, see Mark 15: 40-41. “And there were women also looking on from afar off, among whom were both Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of James ... who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered to him”. In the opening of Luke 8, the Lord is an anointed preacher, going about “doing good, and healing [or saving] all that were under the power of the devil”, as Peter says in Acts 10. Nothing could stand before Him. Here (Mark 15) He appears in the light of a suffering, despised, scorned, cast out, rejected One, going up to Jerusalem to be crowned with thorns, to be crucified. The cross is the culmination of His rejection. This is the test to souls. It is easy to follow a triumphant victorious One, but rejection is the test. To turn again to the Old Testament, it is like Jonathan. David came out of the valley with the giant’s sword and head in his hand—the tokens of a complete victory. He had wrought salvation for Israel just as the Lord wrought salvation for Mary Magdalene. She was, as we have said, completely saved from the power of the enemy, consequently she found an object for her heart and a path for her feet. So, Jonathan’s soul was knit to the soul of David. It seemed very real. He stripped himself of his robe, his princely attire, his garments which distinguished him as a prominent man, even to his sword and to his bow, and to his girdle which he bore as a warrior. He stripped himself of what characterised him as a prince, a man, and a warrior, that he might place it upon David. But the test came. Jonathan’s father sought David’s life. There came the last good-bye—the last kiss, and then they parted never to meet again. David went to the cave of Adullam and Jonathan went back to his father’s house. What was the end? Jonathan’s headless body, slain on Mount Gilboa, was nailed to the walls of Bethshan. How sad! How different to Mary’s course. She cleaves to the Lord through His rejection. You will not travel very far in His path until you find that He is the despised and rejected One here, but you will not be turned aside if He really commands your heart.

Mary is moving on. The next step in her history is indicated in the last verse of this chapter. He died on the cross, but three women remained with Him all through, and saw where His body was laid. They get as near as they possibly could be. Mary was near by.

But I must hasten on. We come to John 20 and we find here the effect of the death of Christ on a heart that so truly loved Him. Mary goes down in early morn to the tomb and sees the stone taken away. She walks away—no, she runs. Think of that lonely woman, in the early morning when it was still dark, turning and running clean back and coming to Peter and John and relating to them the story of the empty tomb. What details the Spirit of God gives us! Then Peter and John run. John gets there first of the two, but Mary had run back too, and she is there as soon as they are. How she loved Him! The two disciples (I will not say much about them) went into the tomb and came out of it perfectly satisfied that the Lord had risen. There was perfect order inside. The clothes were not lying bundled together, but the handkerchief that was upon His Head—folded up in a distinct place by itself. No confusion whatever. They therefore went away again to their own home. But Mary (what a contrast! how it testifies to the affection that was in her heart) stood at the tomb weeping without. There was not a spot on earth to detain her except that empty tomb “where the body of Jesus had lain”.

Farewell, farewell, poor faithless world,

With all thy boasted store;

We’d not have joy where He had woe—

Be rich where He was poor.⁹

Now, let me ask you, has the death of Christ affected you? You may think about the doctrine of it, but has it affected your heart? Mary’s affection was rewarded. As she wept she stooped and beheld what Peter and John did not see. Through her tears she beheld two angels. Angels seem to have the power of appearing and disappearing at will. Peter and John did not see the angels, but Mary did. Two in scripture is adequate testimony. What a descriptive testimony to the dignity of the One who had lain there. They did not sit side by side, but “one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain”. They say to her, “Why dost thou weep?” This question drew out the expression of her heart. But the angels knew who was near her, and the Lord in His question to her goes further than the angels. He not only says “Why weepest thou?” but “Whom seekest thou?” And then He says to her, “Mary”. And she says to Him, “Rabboni”. She has received Him in resurrection! It is one thing to believe in the doctrine of resurrection, but it is another thing to reach Him there. Are we identified with the rejected One? His rejection left Mary a picture of inconsolable grief without a spot on earth to turn to, and no home but an empty tomb. She went down to Jordan to the river’s brink, but the ark had been there, so Jordan was dry. He had been there. It has been well said that nothing will ever lead a soul to cross Jordan but love for Christ. Mary reached Him in resurrection. Have you and I reached Him there? But there is more; some would stop at resurrection. But what does the Lord say to Mary now? “Jesus said to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended”. What! ascended! If you have read the Gospel of John through to this point and have appropriated it you will be quite prepared for ascension. John speaks a good deal more of ascension than of resurrection. I have counted the passages one by one. Christ came from heaven in John and goes back to heaven. What comes from heaven goes back to heaven. The Lord had been speaking all through John’s gospel about going back to “my Father”. I would emphasise that peculiar place and the affection that belongs to that peculiar place. John’s gospel, from the outset, prepares you for the close of it, which is chapter 20. Read chapter 12: 24. The corn of wheat has died, and has brought forth much fruit. Therefore the message: “go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”, chap 20: 12.

Well, Mary went and brought word to the disciples “that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her”. What next? She has come into the assembly! She has reached the goal. The assembly of Christ’s brethren in association with Him as the risen One. She disappears! She has reached the present goal. Who would not like to disappear like this? If you have started on the line we have traced, this is the present goal of it. Are you identified with the rejected One? It is into the midst of that company He delights to come. He comes there. Mary has reached it and she disappears.

May the Lord lead our hearts into it for His Name’s sake.