"HEAR HIM"
“HEAR HIM”
There is One who has received from God the Father honour and glory. The excellent glory has uttered its delight in Him. Though cast aside as worthless by man, He is chosen of God and precious. The honour and glory that He received was not something added to Him, but the display and announcement of what He was. The “holy mountain” was in the light, and within the hearing, of heaven, and those who were there learned Christ as the Object of the Father’s love and delight.
How blessed it is to be abstracted for a while from what is of man, and from the circumstances and exercises of our everyday life, and to be introduced to the Father’s circle! The Father delights to communicate to us — as to the disciples on the holy mount — His own good pleasure in the Son of His love.
His word to us is, “Hear him”, important words spoken by the Father directly to men! It is not now a question of hearing Moses or the prophets, but Christ the beloved Son, One who can tell out all that is in the heart of God. The thoughts of love that were hidden in the depths of God have found utterance in the Word become flesh. He came forth in Godhead fulness to make known all that was in God’s heart and mind. The Father says to us, “Hear him”. He wants us to be listening in quietness of spirit to that voice that tells us all that God is in blessing and grace for man, that tells us, too, of perfect and devoted love in Christ — love to the Father, maintaining all His glory at infinite cost, love to the church that would go down even to death to secure and bear above His bride, love to the saints that would bear our curse and condemnation that we might be with Him in His life and have his Spirit. What a blessed, soul-transporting occupation it is to “Hear him”!
[p. 151] The effect of hearing Him must be to fill our hearts to overflowing. What is spoken in Christ is so great, so glorious that it must absorb and satisfy every heart that really takes it in. Not that we can comprehend it, for we are tiny vessels in the presence of such a mighty ocean of love and blessedness, but by the Spirit we do, in some small measure, apprehend it. The disciples on the holy mount were filled with fear; they did not know what to do or say in the presence of the glory. But God has given us the Spirit to form in us capacity for divine affections, so that instead of being lost in it, we might be perfectly happy and at home in a circle where the glorious pre-eminence of Christ appears. How amazing that we should be withdrawn in spirit from a restless and unsatisfied world to taste the holy joy of a circle where Christ is everything — where we anticipate, in a feeble way, the occupations of those scenes where it will be ours ‘only to adore’.
The one thing for us is to hear Him. The Father wants us to concentrate our attention on that blessed One, and to feast our souls on His love. To be near to Him, to learn what He is to the Father and what He is for us and to us, is the secret of all joy. He not only meets every need, but satisfies every desire. Indeed, He exceeds and surpasses every expectation and desire; in His presence we are more than satisfied. We cannot be dissatisfied if we are near Him. It was said to Naphtali, “Naphtali, satisfied with favour, And full of the blessing of Jehovah” (Deuteronomy 33: 23). This is the portion of those who hear Him. The thought of what He is and of what He brings to us makes our hearts unable to contain themselves. We feel we cannot give Him worthy praise; we cannot describe His beauty or define all the blessedness that we perceive in Him.
The Father has called us to share His rest and delight in the Son of His love, and this is by the Spirit. Such is the grace and love lavished upon us. I trust it is daily more wonderful to us, calling forth deepening worship and praise.