"JEHOVAH HEARKENED TO THE VOICE OF A MAN"
“[p. 112] JEHOVAH HEARKENED TO THE VOICE OF A MAN”
God hearkened to the voice of a man when the sun stood still, and heaven helped Israel in the execution of vengeance on their enemies. Now contrast that with the voice of Jesus! “Father, forgive them”, He says, “for they know not what they do”, and the clock stops. Christ dies and goes into the grave. He is raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.
That does not involve judgment. In that word, “glory of the Father”, we have the germ of a new day. It was in the heart of the Father that there should be such a day. He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and now He “has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens”, not on His own throne yet but in the Father’s throne.
The day is governed from the Father’s throne — by a Man. A Man! Stephen sees Jesus in the brightest spot in glory, he saw the heavens opened and the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand. He kneeled down and cried, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”. Wonderful reflection of the Father’s throne and of the prayer uttered by Christ! Wonderful reflection of the character of the day which the Lord had made! He was equal to it under the most painful circumstances. It was not a time of curse, and hence he prayed for his enemies; he was a perfect reflection of Christ in the midst of the darkness in Jerusalem. How one would seek to be that, to be unaffected, to be here according to the divine appointment, maintaining in one’s ways and walk and spirit the character of the day which Jehovah has made, and rejoicing in it. May God grant this to us!