“GIVE PLACE TO THIS MAN”
J. Lovie
Luke 14: 9 (middle clause)
I have read this sentence because of a preaching by our dear brother, who is now with Christ, and whose body we surround. I was affected in earlier days when he preached from this sentence, “Give place to this man”. I refer to “this man” as alluding to Christ, the Man whom God sets forth so that every one of us might give place to Him. The history of our brother, as sustained through 87 years, witnessed to the way he gave place to Christ and influenced others to do likewise.
There are two features that would cause the heart to give place to Christ, one is who He is, the other is what He has done. We are reminded that, as to who He is, He is “over all, God blessed for ever” (Romans 9: 5)—wondrous fact as to who He is in His Person, unchanged, unchanging, unchangeable: from eternity to eternity He is God, not bounded by dispensations or ages, eternally God. How many scriptures could be brought forward to show the deity of Christ, John 1: 1 reminding us that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God”. First, His eternal existence; then “the Word was with God”—His distinct personality as in the Deity; and then “the Word was God”—His absolute deity. How strengthening to faith is the precious truth of God as to the glory of the Person of Christ. John 1. Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1 all reminding us of the glory of who He is. Everything must give way to Him, and everything will finally give place to Him.
Death has already given way to Him, because He entered into death as an invader and death did not do battle—death fled—“What aileth thee, thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou turnedst back?”, Psalm 114: 5. It is not that Jordan was turned back, but Jordan turned back, that is, Jordan gave way in the presence of the power of the Son of God. It is a wonderful fact that our brother was in the knowledge that Christ had been into death. He enjoyed the forgiveness of sins, enjoyed being justified by faith, enjoyed the knowledge of redeeming love, and the gift of sonship. Our brother has died not as having any fear of it, but as having a link with the Man who has been there before, has faced it, has gone through, and is now glorified. He has broken the power of death, delivering “those who through fear of death through the whole of their life were subject to bondage”, Hebrews 2: 15. What a glorious Man this is, to whom we can give place. Soon creation, soon the nations, will give place to Him when He comes in to manifest His power, to reign from shore to shore. At the present time there are many hearts that are giving place to this Man. He is worthy that He should be honoured, made room for, and given place to, in every heart.
Then there is what He has done that makes Him precious to us. Our brother enjoyed what Christ
had done for him, and he was in the secret of what He will yet do for him, because He will yet come in in power and raise the dead. Think of the power Christ will have in relation to taking the sleeping saints out of the grave. He will come with archangel’s voice and with trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first—a glorious matter this as to what Jesus has done, and what He will yet do. And in faith we await Him as Saviour of the body. What our brother still needs is salvation in this sense in which we are now speaking of it. He enjoyed salvation in relation to the perfect work of Christ, but he awaits the full thought of salvation in the change of condition that the Lord Himself will effect when He comes.
So I commend this to all our hearts. That preaching of our beloved brother affected me over thirty years ago, and I have never forgotten it. There are certain things that stay with you. The Spirit of God has His way through the word of God, and through the application of the word in power in the soul, and I commend this to all of us here today, that we give place to this Man. Wonderful glory is His; how heaven has made room for Him up there—
‘Received in glory bright up there,
The Father’s greetings, honours rare,
Are heaped upon His Son’s blest brow;
He is the mighty Victor now’.
Heaven has made room for Him, given place to Him. Soon, as we have said, the nations will give place to Him. Soon creation itself will respond, because when God brings His Firstborn into the habitable world He says, “Let all God’s angels worship him”, Hebrews 1: 6. Think of the angels giving place to Him, of creation itself, the universe, giving place to Him; how fitting and comely it is that we should the more ‘give place to this Man’, in the precious knowledge of who He is and in the appreciation of what He has done. May the Lord bless the word.