THE GREATNESS OF CHRIST
T. D. Beveridge
Luke 2: 10–14, 19, 25–33, 40–52; 3: 21–23; 4: 14–16, 21, 22; John 19: 6 (“Behold the man!”); Acts 1: 10, 11
I would like to speak briefly about the greatness of Christ. Not everyone appreciates how great our Lord Jesus Christ is. If you went out into the city of Edinburgh, I do not suppose many persons there would have any appreciation of the greatness of Christ. Have you an appreciation of the greatness of Christ? I ask myself, How much does He mean to me? I read in Luke’s gospel because Luke tells us of the humanity of Christ. A most wonderful thing is the humanity of Christ. It is a very wonderful thing that the blessed God Himself, as we have in John’s gospel, the God who was there in the beginning, came into His creation, the Word became flesh. The blessed God came into the world, He came in in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful, immense thing that is. It was a move from Godhead glory. It says that He emptied Himself, taking a bondman’s form—that was the Lord Jesus Christ. He came into these conditions in which we are, He came in in a bodily form.
The first scripture we read speaks of the Lord Jesus as a babe. It says, “And this is the sign to you”. I am not going to go into the scriptures I have read in detail but I would like to highlight by the Spirit’s help certain features of the Lord Jesus, and one of the first allusions is to Him as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. I think that has been linked with the mystery of the Lord Jesus being found here in human form. He was there as a babe. Can you think of anything more attractive? I speak practically now because there are many families amongst us with babies. How attractive it is that the Lord Jesus came in in that form. It did not affect all the great Roman powers and Jewish personages that were there, but some persons were affected. That is how I would like to refer to this scripture, considering persons who were affected by the greatness of Christ.
I have read of Simeon and what a remarkable person he was. It says, “there was a man in Jerusalem”. I suppose in Jerusalem there would be thousands of men but the scripture says here of Simeon, “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem”. This kind of man was just and pious and certain things were communicated to him. I think, if we are in a right moral state, the Spirit of God will communicate wonderful things to us, impressions of the greatness of Christ. How great He is; there is no one greater than Christ. It says of Simeon, “there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was just and pious, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him”. How interested he was in the incoming of Christ. Others perhaps surrounding him had no interest in Him, but this man had an interest in Him. It says, “the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it was divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death before he should see the Lord’s Christ”. I would just like to highlight this, we have the Babe, and then it says of Simeon, “he came in the Spirit into the temple; and as the parents brought in the child Jesus ... he received him into his arms”. Jesus was a Babe and this man was able to take Him. You think of what is meant when it says, “he received him into his arms”. What feelings would come into that man’s soul as he took the Babe into his arms! What an experience he had and how he could bless God, saying, “Lord, now thou lettest thy bondman go, according to thy word, in peace”. I think the man had some appreciation of the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now His parents were obviously affected by it, and I think we grow in our appreciation of the greatness of Christ. I do not think that at the beginning of my pathway I fully understood, nor do I yet understand, the
greatness of Christ. It says, “Mary kept all these things in her mind, pondering them in her heart”. It also says after Simeon had held Him in his arms and spoken of Him, “his father and mother wondered at the things which were said concerning him”. Then you have Anna, and how valuable it is to have persons like Simeon and Anna, pious persons, in our localities.
Godliness—O, is it a scarce commodity? Let it not be scarce. Let us have desires to be pious persons and godly persons. I can remember when I was younger, aged godly sisters, bringing an atmosphere to the meetings. They were not taking part vocally in the meetings but by their presence they brought in something that affected the atmosphere; they were pious persons. I think Simeon and Anna would bring a good atmosphere into the local meeting, as having a great appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says of Anna that she was a prophetess, and “spoke of him to all those who waited for redemption in Jerusalem”. What an activity to speak well of Christ!
Then it goes on to speak about the boy Jesus. That is His humanity, a babe, a child, a boy. How wonderful it is to think that the Lord Jesus, the Lord of glory, was here in that human form and went through all these stages. We are told something about Him as a boy. He was in the temple hearing. Sometimes as a boy you like to assert yourself. Young people like to assert themselves. It says of the Lord Jesus, He was “hearing them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers”. There was perfection in the Lord Jesus, but then its application to ourselves is to encourage us to be like Himself. So He goes on here with His parents, and it says, “And when they saw him they were amazed—and his mother said to him, Child, why hast thou dealt thus with us?” After this “he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he was in subjection to them”. How affecting, the boy Jesus being subject to His parents! I raise a question with the younger brethren. Are you subject to your parents? Do you find that attractive?
Subjection is not a thing that is appreciated in the world. In the world you have to be aggressive and ambitious and set yourself in a certain way to override other people to get to the top. That is the way of the world, but that was not so in the Lord’s humanity. “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he was in subjection to them”. I would encourage our young ones to see the loveliness of subjection.
Then it says, “And his mother kept all these things in her heart”. Mothers are very important, mothers in our localities, but natural mothers too are very important because they can be very ambitious for their children. They may want to promote them and that is not always for the best; they may want to set them up in the world but that is not God’s idea. Someone has said that the higher up you go in this world the nearer you get to the god and prince of this world.
So the best thing is to keep lowly and subject, and let these features of Christ shine. “And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men”. How wonderful the time of Christ’s humanity was, and it was real. Luke’s gospel is full of the greatness of Christ and the things that He did. At His baptism the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a dove, and a voice came out of heaven saying, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. How He was loved by the Father! O the greatness of the Son, the greatness of Christ! That voice was for the Lord Jesus Himself, the Father saying, “in thee I have found my delight”.
Then it speaks about Him being about thirty years old. We can understand these terms. When you get to forty or forty-five you are halfway through your life, more or less; not many persons live beyond ninety years. I am saying that because there is a need to act responsibly.
Jesus came to about thirty years and then He began His public ministry. I am saying these things, beloved brethren, for I feel the need myself to be more wholly committed to what is of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The danger is always to be drawn away from Him. It says of Him that he “was beginning to be about thirty years old”. He had endured the temptations and then it says, “he came to Nazareth, where he was brought up; and he entered, according to his custom, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read”. Then after He had read it says, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears. And all bore witness to him, and wondered at the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this the son of Joseph?”
They had no real appreciation of who was there. “Is not this the son of Joseph?” The light of who was there speaking to them in this way they did not grasp. O beloved brethren, may we grasp something of the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, if never before, let the greatness of Christ affect our hearts. Let us not be as these persons here who did not appreciate Him.
Now we could have read through the whole gospel of Luke, and perhaps that would have been of more value than what one can say, but I read in John’s gospel because you get the Man in John’s gospel. In John 4 the woman says, “Come, see a man”. The blind man in John 9 says, “A man called Jesus” and here the governor Pilate says, “Behold the man!” Here was something being said publicly about the Lord Jesus Christ in His greatness. He says, “Behold the man!” although the scripture speaks of the way they mocked Him. They did not appreciate who Christ was. I raise the question again with each one of us, Do we appreciate Christ in all His greatness? The word from the persons there was “Crucify, crucify him”.
They had no appreciation of Christ. How is our appreciation of Christ to grow? It is by feeding upon Him, by reading about Him, by considering Him as He is being spoken of as we are together with some fresh glimpse of His glory coming into our souls. What came into the woman in John 4 so that she said, “Come, see a man”. She had left all the other things that she had. The man who was blind said, “A man called Jesus”. He had had an experience with Him. Have you had an experience with Christ? I ask myself that, How real have been my experiences with the Lord Jesus Christ? How much does He mean to me? He desires from our gatherings together that He may increase the place that He has in our hearts. He Himself would not increase, but our appreciation of Him is to increase.
I read in the Acts of the Apostles because Christ is on high. He is no longer here. His life on earth, how brief it was, approximately thirty-three and a half years, but He is no longer here.
He has gone by way of death, and He is now in heaven. He is in glory and He has been given the highest place; He has been crowned with glory and honour. How He is honoured there. I meant to speak at the beginning of what was said about the angels, as soon as Christ came on to view in Luke 2 it says, “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host”. They recognised the greatness of Christ, they knew who was there, their Creator. They had seen Him there as a babe and that affected these angelic beings. O may it affect us more.
May it affect our hearts, the greatness of Christ.
Now the last scripture I read for that expression, “This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven”, the One that the disciples had been with in their lives. How they had learned to love the Lord Jesus and to trust Him. How they felt it when He said He was going away, and He spoke of the Comforter who would be given to them. If He did not go He said they would not be given the Comforter. Then as He was going, the two men in white clothing said, “This Jesus who has been taken up from you”. He is no longer here, He is in glory, a living Man, and He is there for us. God has given Him the highest place. I do not have any more to say, but I do trust that Christ may become greater to every one of us, for His name’s sake.
Address at Edinburgh
16 October 1999
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) (01277) 650661