THE LEADERSHIP OF CHRIST

THE LEADERSHIP OF CHRIST

1

D. Robertson

THE NAME OF JESUS

10

W. Lamont

SEEING JESUS

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D. C. Brown

D. Robertson

Exodus 15: 1–17; Matthew 26: 30; Hebrews 2: 11, 12

I feel impressed to speak of the leadership of Christ. When God was about to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, He had in mind that He would do so under a leader who was divinely appointed. It is remarkable how He speaks to Moses of the thoughts that were in His heart, as to deliverance from Egypt, and a way that led through the Red Sea, through the wilderness and right into the land (Exodus 3: 8). Leadership would involve taking people the whole way, and God intends to take us the whole way. The leader would lead them out, a leader who was divinely appointed and prepared for the task. We find in the secret history of Moses, morally speaking, that he traversed the whole way before he ever led the people. He had forty years of personal experience with God in the wilderness, and coming through those forty years involved the leader himself going the whole way.

It is wonderful to trace the ways of God in grace in the typical teaching of Exodus. Before God delivers the people from Egypt, He breaks the power of Egypt’s firstborn, and causes the plagues too, indicating God’s power, and the determination to set free His people. No power can detain His people in the world. God indicated in the plagues that He would take issue with any power that would seek to do so. He also makes His own gracious appeal to His people. He tells them to take a lamb, each man a lamb for his house, and indicated that the lamb should be kept there four days, becoming attractive to every member of the household.

On one hand He was breaking the power of Egypt in the slaying of the firstborn, but He was acting through grace, inwardly in His saints, to prepare them for their exit from Egypt. That is what He is doing at the moment. God is

making His own gracious appeal to us, to make us ready for our final exit from this world.

What it must have been to the household, to have that lamb as the object of affection in the house for four days, and then to find that, for salvation, it had to be slain. The blood was put on the door-posts and on the lintels. It speaks most affectingly of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that God did not put the blood on the door-posts, the people had to do it.

God does not put the blood on our door-posts, we have to do it. We can only prove the presence of God on the basis of separation from the world. We can never assume it. His presence is maintained livingly and vitally within our knowledge by putting the blood on the door-posts and on the lintels—that is, the household is a separated household.

Not only had the lamb to be slain and its blood applied to the door-posts and the lintels, but it had to be roast with fire, and eaten. The eating of the passover lamb was to bring about a state of unity among the nation, so that they might make a unified exit from the world. Think of God doing that graciously at the moment. You may say, Look at the confusion that exists, look at the sects. Well, that is to be taken account of, and God is able for that, but as far as you and I are concerned, I believe that God is making His own gracious appeal; He is exhorting us to feed on the passover lamb, so that our constitutions can be built up morally, to leave the world in a unified action. We get moral strength in that; God builds up a constitution in the saints, through their feeding upon the lamb, so that we are ready to leave on the morrow! Are we ready to leave on the morrow? I think there is more that detains us than we care to admit. The feeding upon the passover lamb builds up a constitution and brings about unity amongst us—that our desire is unified in saying to the Lord Jesus. Come! I speak simply, and I trust earnestly, to appeal to our affections beloved brethren.

that we may be ready for the next great movement from heaven. The Lord Jesus is about to lead us into heaven. That is the background to what I want to say.

When it comes to the Red Sea. God acts Himself and then the leader comes to mind. What a mighty transaction that was; God’s power, God’s authority over death, exercised in opening up a way out of this world for us, opening up a way into the wilderness where God is to be proved. It is where our faith is tried, but where God is to be known, where the divine triumph is to be seen in sustaining us, in circumstances where only God could sustain us. But first of all, God divinely deals with death, and He deals with it on the principle of authority. Then there is this song as it says, “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song”. Think of the scope it covers, the song covers the whole way. You might say the people sang more than they knew, and so do we sometimes. But Moses knew it all having been with God in his experience for forty years in the wilderness. They sang of the exit from Egypt, of the transit through the wilderness, and of God planting them in the inheritance. They sang under the leadership of a man who had already gone the whole way. He is a type of Christ, who would lead us in the spirit of victory and assurance to sing of the whole way, because He Himself has been the whole way. Christ is an ‘all the way home Leader’. I would like the Lord Jesus Himself to give a touch of assurance and victory in our souls, that this glorious song may become a reality to us. Think of the suffering love of Christ, travelling every inch of that suffering way. Think of Mary anointing the feet of Jesus six days before the passover, as much as to say these are the feet of the suffering Saviour and they are traversing all the suffering way. He has been the whole way and we can join with Him in this song of victory, because the victory is really His. ‘Triumphant saints no honour claim’, the victory is all Christ’s. We can be assured and confirmed that He will lead us the whole way home. There is no defeat in that. The song ends,

“Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, The place that thou, Jehovah, hast made thy dwelling, The Sanctuary, Lord, that thy hands have prepared”.

In Matthew 26 it says, “having sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives”. It suggests the leadership of Christ. The Lord would lead in movement, and establish something that belongs peculiarly to this dispensation. I believe that the woman in verses 6 to 13 of the chapter provided the Lord with peculiar liberty, she broke through all the power of the religious hierarchy in her action. She indicated that here was the One who alone was fit to reign, the only Man worthy to do it, and the Lord is liberated to speak in a new way. It says in verse 12, “For in pouring out this ointment on my body ...” I believe the woman brings about liberty for the Lord to introduce this new thought of His body. In verse 26 He says, “Take, eat; this is my body”, and then in verse 27, “this is my blood ...” The Lord was inaugurating something that belongs distinctively to our dispensation. I have an impression that we need to have a deeper appreciation of the Lord’s supper. The fact that it has been preserved throughout the dispensation, and the fact that we have been preserved to take part in it is a great mercy. Then there is this verse, “having sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives”. I think there is some wonderful suggestion in that. The Lord Himself resorted to the mount of Olives. What secret source of comfort and joy He found there who can say—the hours of communion that He spent with the Father at the mount of Olives. What it must have meant to the heart of the Lord Jesus! What it must have meant to the heart of the Father to have that blessed Man, that perfect Man in communion with Him on the mount of Olives.

Having sung a hymn, He led them there; think of the triumph of that! Think of the new movement!

The Lord was showing them that this glorious matter that He had inaugurated was to be sustained and this

required a new power. Beloved brethren the Holy Spirit is that power. The mount of Olives speaks of that. I have an impression that we need to think more of the Spirit dispensationally.

In Acts chapter 1 He charged them by the Holy Spirit, indicating that the Holy Spirit is in charge of the dispensation, and that means the last day as well as the first day of the dispensation. The Holy Spirit has not and will not surrender His charge. We may say it is His province, and the Lord was introducing those beloved disciples into the region of the Spirit, indicating that there was a new power coming into the dispensation, a power that was equal for it. No human power was equal for it. It cannot be sustained naturally or in the power of religious hierarchy. It can only be sustained in spiritual power, as we understand and appropriate the Spirit’s place dispensationally. It is a wonderful thought, and the Lord was introducing them to it. He was introducing them to the realm where the Spirit and His power are understood. We see the contrast to that in Aaron and the people down here, and Moses on the mountain. There was Moses with God and Aaron with the people. It is always dangerous to be with the people if you are not with God, because you will lower the level. So we have Moses on high and Aaron down here with the people, and Aaron’s priesthood was not equivalent to the position that Moses was occupying on high. But that is not so today. The Spirit dispensationally means there is a power down here that is equal to the power up there in Christ.

I commend the thought to the brethren. That Christ and His leadership would lead us today into a fresh apprehension of the Spirit dispensationally, that we might be fortified in our faith, to see that there is a power that is equal to maintain the Supper, and the testimony that flows from the Supper, right through the end of the dispensation. The enemy is against that. He is against the preservation of the Lord’s supper and the service of God. We need to be led freshly by the Lord Jesus, the great Leader, into the apprehension of the mighty power

that is available in the Spirit of God. It says, “that he may be with you for ever”, John 14: 16.

That is, this dispensation is characterised by the abiding presence of a divine Person. There is a very fine touch in the ministry of Mr James Taylor, that since the incarnation the earth has never been without a divine Person. The Lord Jesus was here, a divine Person in manhood, then His going on high, and the Spirit, another divine Person, coming here to indwell the saints, to see to the maintenance of this great matter of the Lord’s supper and what is centred in it. The service of God, and the testimony vitally flowing from it, are sustained in quality and power rightfully by the Spirit dispensationally, and I believe that the Lord Jesus as the Leader would lead us freshly in our apprehension to appropriate the glory of it.

May we be strengthened in our faith to see that there is power to see this great matter through to the end. In every attack of the enemy, and in every crisis that has arisen, you will find there are great cries that there is no longer a collective position. That is a denial of the presence of the Holy Spirit dispensationally. He has come to maintain a collective position, and to the end of the dispensation some will be maintained to celebrate the Supper, and to celebrate the service of God. If there is one thing more than another that is needed in our localities, it is to be exercised in our links together to maintain conditions where we can celebrate the Lord’s supper and the service of God. What is the power for it? It is the Holy Spirit of God. So it says, “having sung a hymn, they went out to the mount of Olives”. That is into the region of the Spirit. The Lord was putting them in touch, not only with a new thing, but putting them in touch with a power that was able to keep them in the new thing. I do not think the Supper will be celebrated by Israel at all. It does not belong to Israel, it belongs to the assembly, “This is my body, which is for you”, 1 Corinthians 11: 24. You will find that at the beginning of Acts the mount of Olives leads to the upper room, and

the upper room leads to the elevation at which the Spirit would help us to maintain things.

I wanted to say a word on Hebrews. I think this is a most wonderful passage of scripture,

“both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one”. This truth has been largely lost sight of in Christendom, and for a very simple reason. It has been lost sight of because there has been no power to retain it. Christendom alas has fallen into unholiness, and there is no capacity for holy things. I am not speaking disrespectfully of many who are immersed in Christendom, I am speaking of the general state of Christendom. There is no capacity because of the surrender of the claims of Christ. The whole profession in Christendom has become corrupted. The Lord says, “I am about to spue thee out of my mouth”, Revelation 3: 16.

Think of the holy feelings of Christ, repulsed by the awfulness of the conditions in Christendom. Do you ever feel that way? We can never feel it as Christ feels it, but we ought to feel it. Recently persons have made some terrible statements undermining the very foundations of Christianity, and especially attacking the Person of Christ.

Do you think there is any hope for Christendom? Do not build your hopes up in Christendom, and do not set your eyes on it! Do not let it influence you, no matter how fine the language used, and how fine the sentiments may seem to be. It is a spurious place and Christ is about to spue it out of His mouth. It speaks not only of the abominable character of Christendom, but it speaks of the purity, the incalculable purity of the manhood of Christ. You cannot follow the impurity of Christendom. There is only one word for Christendom; it is doomed. It is a doomed system. The only hope is to accept the way God has provided to come out of it; that is, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”, 2 Timothy 2: 19. Thank God He has given a way out of it. If we take that way, we will find that the

Lord Jesus will lead us into the most blessed things, the glories of the Supper, and then the glory of this—“both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one”. It is a wonderful statement. This is not oneness of unity! This is oneness of kind! Oneness of unity is a blessed thought, but think of this oneness of kind; it is that we partake of Christ’s order of humanity.

That is what it means. That we are of the same order of Christ, and if we do not touch that vitally after the celebration of the Supper, we can never touch the service of God, because only what is of Christ can have part in the service of God. God says in Numbers 28: 2, “My offering, my bread for my offerings ...” What is it? It is Christ in the saints. That is God’s bread. That is what God appropriates. That is what pleases Him and satisfies His heart. It is Christ in the saints. And that is what this means, “both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”.

We speak of the moral side. We speak of it rightly, and if there is anyone here who is not morally right I appeal to you to have to do with God. Because if you do not your position may become fixed, and you might find when the Lord comes you are still not morally right, and He will take issue with you then. But thank God now is a time of grace when you can get morally right. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanses from all sin. Take advantage of it!

Dear brother and dear sister, get right with God and get right with the Lord! Get right with the saints! Take advantage of the time of grace.

This is not the moral side, “for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”. There is a time in the service when the ground is changed, it is no longer moral but spiritual, no longer provisional, no longer the wilderness, but the land. How can you touch it? Only under the leadership of Christ, the Minister of the sanctuary, the Minister of the holy place, but He will only lead in what is of His own order. That is the wonderful

secret of the service of God. He leads those of His own order, the sanctified company, into the presence of God, celebrating the praises of God in such a way that God’s heart is answered to. Imagine creatures like you and me speaking of God’s heart being filled. What wonderful grace! That is the truth, that Christ in His leadership, leads in a sanctified company, a company like Himself to satisfy the heart of the blessed God, and to answer to the revelation of God. The word says, “According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise …”, Psalm 48: 10. The leadership of Christ in this setting guarantees a perfect answer to the heart of God eternally. You and I through grace have been brought in to have part in it, as He says,

“in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”.

How wonderful are these simple thoughts as to the leadership of Christ, leading in victory, leading in assurance. He is able to take us the whole way. If there is a doubting soul I would commend to you the One who is able to lead you the whole way through. Then He would lead into the apprehension of the power that is equivalent to the power up there. Think of the glory of that! There is spiritual power available down here to maintain the saints in the precious light of the Lord’s supper and the service of God, and of the blessed Man, who is the Minister of the sanctuary, the Minister of the holy places. He is the blessed Man who Himself has revealed God and ensures in His service that that revelation is answered to, and answered to perfectly, “in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”. May God bless the word.

Address at Ormond Beach, 31 December 1993

THE NAME OF JESUS

W. Lamont

Matthew 1: 21; 28: 1–7; Philippians 2: 5–11; 1 Thessalonians 1: 9, 10

It will be evident to all that the name of Jesus occurs in all these passages we have read.

‘How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds

In a believer’s ear!’ (Hymn 54).

There is no name like the name of Jesus; it thrills the heart of every believer. I wonder if it thrills your heart. How wonderful it is to be able to speak of Him, the theme of God’s glad tidings, His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I trust you too can say with many of us here, Jesus Christ our Lord. You have to personalise it of course; the New Testament is full of persons who could say, My Lord. We read of some this afternoon as we were gathered together to read the Scriptures. One of them was a woman who could say, “they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him”, John 20: 13.

This first passage that I have read refers to the incoming of Jesus. The second one refers to Him as the crucified One; the third one refers to Him as the exalted One; the fourth passage refers to Him as the coming One. We know that He came in as a babe. “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins”.

But as to His Person, He is God, “they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, ‘God with us’, (Matthew 1: 23). O, the greatness of the incoming of Jesus, God with us. Who could solve the question of sin and sins? Only God Himself could do it, and He has done it completely to His own satisfaction, and done it eternally in the Person of Jesus.

That is the glad tidings.

If you are burdened by your sins you can be clear of

them tonight, you can be clear of them sitting in your seat, because the work has been done that has glorified God in relation to the whole question of sin and sins. God has not forgiven sin, He has judged it unsparingly; He has condemned sin in the flesh in the Person of His own Son. God hates sin, it is an affront to His throne; it entered into the universe before man was even on the earth; so that even if Adam had never been created the question of sin would have needed to be taken into account. But by one man sin entered into the world and by sin death. O, the tragic results of sin entering into the world, how awful they have been. We see the results of it today, the ravages of sin. How is it to be met? The answer is the incoming of Jesus—“thou shalt call his name Jesus”. How simple the gospel is—“for he shall save his people from their sins”. Do you know Him? Do you know Him as your Saviour? Do you love Him? Have you allowed Him into your life? Does He fill your heart?

He has dealt with the whole sin question in all its magnitude. So that God is satisfied as a result of the work of Jesus. “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God’s righteousness in him”, 2 Corinthians 5: 21. Think of that! God made Him the very article itself, and judged unsparingly in the Person of His own Son the awful matter of sin. So the offer of the forgiveness of sins can be extended to you and to me. All have sinned, you cannot elect yourself out of that; all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

There are no exceptions; men seek by various means to elect themselves out of certain situations; but this is one you cannot escape, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Your only hope is Jesus, as the result of the shedding of His precious blood, that blood that makes atonement for the soul. So God is prepared to forgive your sins on the ground of the work of one Man. Who could compute the sins of the Old Testament times, the sins since, your sins, all taken account of in the work of Jesus. God is able to forgive

you and the basis is the shed blood of His own beloved Son.

In Matthew 28 we might say that it is all over from one standpoint. He had lived a life of sinless perfection under the eye of God, twice approval was given from heaven. The first time, at the Jordan, the voice of God the Father declared, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight” (Matthew 3: 17), referring to His private life. The details of that life were seen and appreciated by God in a most definite way, bringing forth His approbation.

Again, on the mount of transfiguration, after approximately three and a half years of public service, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight—hear him”, Matthew 17: 5. Jesus could say to the Jews in John’s gospel, I am “Altogether that which I also say to you”

(John 8: 25). No pretence was needed—often we pretend to be what we are not, but never with Jesus. He was through and through what He said He was in holy perfection in manhood according to God. But here at the end of the gospel where we might say it is all over. He was made a public spectacle on the cross; think of the awfulness of it. He came to save His people from their sins; He came to His own and His own received Him not. What did they do with Him? They were in collusion with the Roman power, which they rebelled against, but they were at one in their judgment with it against Jesus saying, “Crucify, crucify him”, John 19: 6.

They wanted Barabbas, a murderer, and Jesus was placed on a cross, made a public spectacle.

Little did they realise the divine victory there was in it. When He had been put in the tomb, the tomb was sealed. A stone was rolled to the door of the tomb, and sealed with all the authority of the Roman empire. Who dare challenge the power of the Roman empire? It was one of the greatest empires that ever existed; it had one of the most powerful armies that has ever been on the face of the earth.

Here are two women looking at the sepulchre. I

often visualise that scene and these two women coming; how far they walked I do not know but they came just to look at that sepulchre. There was a great earthquake, “for an angel of the Lord, descending out of heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it”.

Heaven’s contempt for the whole power of the Roman empire was shown; one angel descending from heaven rolled away that stone and sat upon it. The stone did not need to be rolled away to let Jesus out of the tomb. He was already out, already risen. The psalm refers to the heathens raging and the nations in tumultuous agitation (see Psalm 2: 1), and it has been that since, it is that now. A terrible time it was then; what a terrible time it is now. It goes on to say, “He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision”, Psalm 2: 4. This is a day of grace, and God is favourable towards all men, the righteousness of God is towards all, and it is upon all those who believe, but it will be seen publicly in a coming day, that “He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision”. All their efforts, all these nations gathered together against Jehovah, against the Lord and His Christ, that was the scene here and they thought He was finished.

Satan, no doubt, was rejoicing, he thought he had done away with Him.

This angel had a look as lightning and his clothing white as snow. These guards would be very hard men, afraid of no one; yet for fear of this angel the guards trembled and became as dead men. The angel did not touch them; I think that is a wonderful touch of divine grace, he could have destroyed them. One angel, in the days of king Sennacherib, destroyed one hundred and eighty five thousand (see 2 Kings 19: 35). The angel answering said to the women, “Fear not ye”. It is a word in the glad tidings. God is favourable towards you. There is a day of wrath coming but in the meantime God is favourable towards you. He has set forth Jesus, “a mercy-seat through faith in his blood”, Romans 3: 25. The word was, “Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus

the crucified one”. It is a remarkable expression, “Jesus the crucified one”. What a death of shame was His; what a death of suffering and ignominy as He was made a public spectacle, hanging on a cross with people jeering at Him. The hatred of the human race was vented against the Son of God. But, the message is, “He is not here, for he is risen”. He is risen, out of death, the mighty Conqueror of death. Not only has He settled the question of sin and sins, the whole moral issue that had invaded the universe, but He is risen, out of death, and has conquered the power of death and annulled him who has the might of death (Hebrews 2: 14).

The last sight the world had of Jesus was of a Man dying on the cross. But here His disciples actually saw Him in Galilee. Now many of us know that Galilee to the Jews was an area of reproach; that applies at the present time. If you put your trust in Jesus you will find you will come under reproach, and it is something we do not like. It is no different today than it was when the Lord Jesus was alive on earth. He was despised and rejected of men, and if you are a true Christian the same applies today because the world has never changed. Human beings have never changed; unregenerate men and women, boys and girls do not like what comes from God, because it cuts right across all that we are as away from God as sinners. So the testimony today is in reproach.

This is a wonderful passage in Philippians 2. No human mind however acute, however well trained, however brilliant, could understand, “who, subsisting in the form of God”, it is far beyond the understanding of any creature. It relates to God who dwells in light unapproachable, whom no man has seen nor is able to see (see 1 Timothy 6: 16). He was on an equality with God “but emptied himself”, not that He ceased to be what He ever was because of what He became, but it says, “taking a bondman’s form”, that is the first thing.

This passage causes wonder in the soul. It says about the

Lord Jesus that He took a bondman’s form. That reminds us of the type in Exodus, the Hebrew bondman who could say, “I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free” (Exodus 21: 5), the one whose ear was bored through with an awl to the door-post. The antitype is One who is totally committed to the will of God, and it cost Him His life; the only One who had a right to live gave up His life in order that blessing should come to you and me. So it says, here, “becoming obedient even unto death”, O, the obedience of Jesus, as it says elsewhere, “he learned obedience from the things which he suffered”, Hebrews 5: 8. It was not that He needed to learn how to obey, but He learned what that quality of obedience was through the things that He suffered. “Wherefore also God highly exalted him”; what triumph there is in that! God has highly exalted one Man, and “granted him a name, that which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow”. It is true that every knee will bow, but persons may come into the blessings of the gospel by acknowledging Jesus as Lord at the present time. Remember the figure of Joseph, set over the land of Egypt, where they cried before him, “Bow the knee!” (Genesis 41: 43), acknowledging him as the supreme one.

God has exalted Him so that, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly and earthly and infernal beings”. There is no hope of salvation for infernal beings. One of the things I look forward to, among others, is the day when all will bow the knee to Jesus, “and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to God the Father’s glory”. The result is that there is something yielded for the pleasure and delight of God. Is it so in your life? How many Christians rest in the satisfaction of the knowledge of sins forgiven but, alas, live their lives for their own pleasure. The intended result of the gospel is, as Paul says, “that they who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who died for them and has been raised”, 2 Corinthians 5: 15. I believe this fully, that the measure of a Christian’s committal to the

Lord Jesus reflects the measure of his or her affection for Him.

The Thessalonians had been given up to idolatry, but they had heard the gospel and it had had a profound effect upon them, as Paul says, “how ye turned to God from idols”, that is God became their great objective. They turned to “serve a living and true God, and to await his Son from the heavens”. Jesus is coming again. It says He shall appear to those that look for Him the second time without sin for salvation (Hebrews 9: 28). I wonder if every one here is awaiting Jesus from the heavens? When the Lord Jesus arises from the Father’s throne, where He is now, and takes His own throne, that will end the day of grace. It is a soon coming day, when He will claim from the earth those that belong to Himself. What a day that will be for the earth; the day of the coming wrath, especially in this western world where the gospel has been preached so much, called prophetically the third part of the earth. God’s judgment will fall on it in a terrible way. Some might say, You are preaching judgment. Why should I not?

It is my duty to warn you. The glad tidings are not judgment, but the word of God carries a warning. Paul could say, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men”, 2

Corinthians 5: 11. If people only knew of the terrible things coming, when the restraining power of the Holy Spirit and the people of God are removed from this earth, how it should affect them.

You may think things are bad now, but when the church is gone and the Holy Spirit is gone, I could not tell you the multiplication of times it will be worse. Yet believers are awaiting His Son from the heavens; He is our Saviour; the One we love. He is coming to claim His own,

“and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we, the living who remain, shall be caught up together with them ... and thus we shall be always with the Lord”, 1 Thessalonians 4: 16, 17.

It says here, “to await his Son from the heavens, whom he raised from among the dead”. I

think the apostle had great pleasure in adding that, “whom he raised from among the dead.

Jesus, our deliverer from the coming wrath”. Do you know Him? My friend, I appeal to you, Do you know Jesus? Have you put your faith in Him? Have you put your trust in His precious blood? Are you awaiting Him from the heavens? May every one of us give our hearts to Him for His name’s sake.

Preaching at Birmingham, 13 January 1991

SEEING JESUS

D. C. Brown

Hebrews 2: 8 (from “But now”), 9; 12: 1, 2 (to “of faith”); 2 Corinthians 3: 18; 1 John 3: 2

These scriptures make reference to seeing Jesus. I would seek as we are here together to draw attention to Jesus in that way, that we should see Jesus. We read earlier of righteousness, faith, love and peace, and this would be one of the broad range of things that you could speak of that relate to faith. By faith we can see Jesus, and it is important that we should. We sometimes sing—

‘O Lord, Thy glory we behold,

Though not with mortal eyes’ (Hymn 81)

Nothing of what is mortal can take in the glory of Jesus but we also sing—

‘By faith we see

Jesus with highest honour crowned’ (Hymn 20)

Have you turned your eyes to Jesus, that glorious One, to see Him? We see not yet all things subjected to Him. We can look around this world and see many things which are not subjected to Him. We see government unable to govern; we see the world as out of order; we see the concern that men have for the environment of

this earth—all is out of order because of men being insubject to Him. We can look in our own hearts, and we find what is there that is insubject to Christ. These are not things that we want to develop now. We want to look above to see Jesus. It has been said, If you look around you will be distracted; if you look within you will be disgusted; if you look above you will be delighted. Have you had the delight of seeing Jesus?

There is a Man on the Father’s throne; there is a Man in the glory who is crowned with glory and honour. What did it mean to the Father, that glorious entry of Christ as He ascended? The Father was delighted; the Father rejoiced to see that Man arrive in triumph in the place that belonged to Him. What did He do? He crowned Him with glory and honour; He gave Him a place on His throne. Have you got your eyes on the Man who is on the Father’s throne? Have you used the eyes of faith? If you have faith, you have the eyes of faith to see Jesus. Do not look around you, look at the glory of the Man who is on the Father’s throne. Do not look within. Sometimes you need to, to judge what is within, but you will not have a right appraisal of what is in your own heart until you have seen God’s ideal, God’s ideal Man. It is good too to consider Him as He was down here. We sometimes sing the hymn—

‘Jesus, what memories thrill our hearts

Of Thy blest footprints here,

While now to heav’n our eyes we turn

And gaze upon Thee there!’ (Hymn 124).

Is your eye upon the Man who is on the Father’s throne? If we speak about righteousness, where is it? It is in the fact that there is a Man on the Father’s throne crowned with glory and honour. “We see not yet all things subjected to him, but we see Jesus”—we have the power by faith and by the Holy Spirit to have that glorious Man before our hearts. The Father was delighted with Christ in His pathway here in perfection, but think of the Father’s delight in a victorious Man

before Him to be given that highest, that richest most glorious place. What place would we give Him? We would give Him that place. We do not have the ability, but the Father has the affection, the desire, and the ability, to give Christ the place that He deserves on His throne now. How glorious that there is One there; all our blessings, and all that we can enjoy, we can enjoy in Him. Can Satan touch the Father’s throne? Can Satan, the enemy of your soul, touch what is in Christ? Assuredly not; there is a Man on the Father’s throne in the glory of all that is for the pleasure of God, and if you have faith in Him, you are in Him, and your place is established in Him. What glory! Beloved, turn your eyes to Him—see Jesus. What a place He has been in, what a depth He has come to, “made some little inferior to angels on account of the suffering of death”. The glory of the Person would come before our hearts, the majesty of One, God in His own Person yet coming into this scene in the lowliness and depth that were involved to be subject to the suffering of death, but now raised by the glory of the Father and His own inherent right, ascended and at the Father’s right hand. The Father’s delight is in Him there; our delight is in Him there. Is your delight in the Man who is on the Father’s throne? Is your sight on that Man? Because that is what is going to affect your heart; that is what is going to change your life—to have your eye upon Him.

He is there too as we see in Hebrews 12 as the One who is our Forerunner. If you are pursuing the pathway of faith, you are going the way that Jesus has gone, because He is “the leader and completer of faith”. He has established and displayed and perfected the way of faith. It is wonderful that He came down to such subjection, to walk in the way of faith. And now that same One is the One on whom you are to be looking. We often have this scripture brought before us, with the footnote that explains “looking steadfastly”—‘looking away from other things and fixing the eye exclusively on one’. Have you had the experience of fixing your eye

exclusively on One? Let us have that experience now—fix your eye upon the Man who is in the glory, it goes on, “set down at the right hand of the throne of God”. That is what God has done, that is the place that God has given Him. He has been in the pathway of faith. So as you go through the practical matters of life you need to have your eye on the Forerunner, on the One who has gone before in this scene. He has led, completed and accomplished. If you need guidance in the pathway of faith, you will have it in having your eye upon the Leader and Completer of faith. You must have your eye on Him if you are going to provide something for God. We read in a recent meeting about a man who could provide fruit, something for Pharaoh because he could say, “a vine was before me”, Genesis 40: 9. Have you taken it upon yourself to fix your eye upon the Vine, to fix your eye upon the One who is for the heart of God? We may be tested by that but we may have help, that we should use every opportunity to have our eye upon Christ. Let us now and henceforth be among those who have their eyes fixed upon Christ. How delightful He was to God. How delightful He was to God in His pathway, in growing up before Him, and in going through pressure. There was pressure on these grapes before there was anything for Pharaoh; if there was to be anything for God there had to be pressure. Now out of the pressure there is something for the heart of God. If you are going to provide for the heart of God, you have to have your eye upon that One,

‘To heaven our eyes we turn,

And gaze upon Him there’.

There is what is to be laid aside; there is what entangles us, there is what would ensnare us; but if we are going to run, if we are going to pursue the pathway of faith, we have to lay aside things that would hinder. You will only do it if you have seen the Man, because these things have to go on the principle of attraction. You have to go on as attracted to the Man who is in the glory.

Again, in Corinthians Paul would bring before us the importance of “we all, looking on the glory of the Lord”. There is reference here, of course, to the fact that in a previous dispensation there was a veil, there was something which hindered. There was not the capacity in the children of Israel to look on the glory of the Lord even to the limited extent that it was displayed in the face of Moses. His face shone because he had been in the light of divine glory, and when he came forth he had to put a veil upon his face because there was not the capacity in the people to look at him. Now there is the capacity; there is faith which allows it, but there is capacity in the Spirit to gaze upon that face. “But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit”. We have this power it speaks of, “as by the Lord the Spirit”. There is the capacity now to gaze upon the glory of the Lord. Now, that is to have a transforming effect upon us. Are you, as one who as gazing upon the glory of the Lord, being transformed? That is something that would test us. Have we got our sight on Him and are we being transformed from glory to glory? There had been transformation. I suppose Paul was the greatest example of it, transformation through gazing on the glory of the Lord.

He could say, “have I not seen Jesus our Lord”, 1 Corinthians 9: 1. The Lord appeared to him on the way to Damascus, so that he was transformed from a sinner, from one who was far from God. But in this scripture there is the thought of transforming not only in that way but from glory to glory. Have you experienced something of that progress, of that unending possibility of progress.

I was thinking of one man of whom scripture speaks, the blind man in John 9. That man was touched by Jesus, he was sent, he was obedient. There is glory in obedience. He went, he came back, he testified of Jesus. There is glory in that. But the Lord was not satisfied with only that glory (and it was very special on

that man, the one who testified). He was not satisfied that that was enough, so He presented Himself. He says, “dost thou believe on the Son of God?” (John 9: 35). The man had not had that impression, but the Lord answers his question. How does He answer it? He does not simply say, I am He. He could have done that. No, He says, “Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaks with thee is he” (John 9: 37). That is how you are going to be transformed, as having seen Him, and that man was transformed from glory as a testifier to glory as a worshipper. Have you been transformed in that kind of way? That is just one simple example of the transforming effect. Have you been transformed? Have you had your eye on Christ so that His glory has had this effect? The note here refers to metamorphosis, transfiguration, the complete change. We know how that works in certain creatures, in the change from the caterpillar to the butterfly so that what comes out is glorious. Are you changing because you have your eye upon the glory, because you have your eye upon the Man who is at the Father’s right hand?

Now it is glorious that we should have the sight by faith to see the One who is at the Father’s right hand, the One who is the Father’s delight. Beloved, the Lord is coming! Faith gives place to actuality! What will it be when we see Him, when we see Him beyond faith in the glory of what is actual? Does it thrill your heart? What will it be to see Jesus? What will it be to see Him, the One we have loved so long, the One who has been before our eyes of faith, the One who has touched our hearts, the One who has raised us? What will it be?

‘The traits of that face, Lord,

Once marred through Thy grace,

With joy we shall trace at Thy coming again’ (Hymn 19).

What a face to look forward to seeing! Let that be our prospect. What does it mean to us?

What is it to our hearts? These beloved brethren who have gone before

have thought of that. Our brother Mr Renton spoke recently of his father, when in the last weeks of his life, saying, ‘His face, His face’—that was what was before him. That was the desire of that beloved brother, to see His face. When we see Him we shall be like Him, as John says, “we know that if it is manifested we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”. Not just faith, more than faith! What a glorious prospect it is for us to see that One, to gaze on His face evermore. Have you thought of what it will be to be eternally in the presence of the glory of the Man who delights the Father, the Man who has satisfied His heart, the Man who has done all for you? One of the beloved servants of the Lord could write—

‘And shall we see Thy face,

And hear Thy heav’nly voice’ (Hymn 270).

Are you thrilled with the prospect of seeing that beloved One? How glorious, how full, how grand, that we shall see Him, that we shall be with Him, that we shall be like Him with bodies of glory like His own body of glory! It has been pointed out to us recently that our eyes naturally do not have the capacity to bear the glory. We shall be changed so that we can bear the glory of the presence and the glory of the sight of the glorious Son of God. May we all have this in our hearts increasingly, for His name’s sake.

Address at Grangemouth, 22 January 1994

Edited and Published by J. Strachan, 59 Frederick Street, Dundee, DD3 9DE, Scotland Printed by Crystal Stationery, 22 Western Road, Billericay, Essex CM12 9DZ, (T) (0277) 650661