Miscellaneous
Writings Volume Three
The Mediator
Outside the Camp
One
Thing Needful
Remember Your
Guides
(A Short Memorial of
F.W.Grant)
THE MEDIATOR.
(Ex. xxviii. 15-30.)
I HAVE read these verses, beloved friends, not with the
thought of trying to bring out, in any wise, even in outline, all that might
present itself to me here, but rather taking them as the key to some thoughts
with regard to our blessed Lord Himself, in that character which is His
exclusively, - the character of Mediator. He is the "one Mediator between God
and man, the Man Christ Jesus." And this word, Mediator, means, one who is in
the midst - between two. Thus Christ is, on the one hand, with God, for God,
and God; and with man, for man, and man. The fact of what He is in His own
person is, I would say, the basis-fact for all the rest.
How wonderful,
beloved friends, that there is now in the presence of God for us a Man,- yea,
and upon the Father's throne! though there, of course, because He is, in the
highest and most exclusive sense, Son of the Father. He is thus the only
begotten Son in virtue of His deity as He is the first-begotten Son in virtue
of His humanity - head of a race. In the tabernacle of His manhood was thus
displayed, and without a vail, the glory of Godhead. "The Word was made flesh,
and dwelt [tabernacled, the word is,] among us, (and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." Thus,
what answered to the glory dwelling in the tabernacle of old was the glory of
the Eternal Son. But the glory in Israel's tabernacle they could not behold.
The glory of Christ we do behold (that of which the other was but a type). And
why? Because it is full of grace and truth. "No man hath seen God at any time;
the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him"-" told Him out."
Now, in this expression-"fuIl of grace and
truth"- we have, in brief, the two main thoughts of the breastplate. "Truth" is
the effect of the light, and God is light. Light is what manifests, brings out,
the truth, - is the truth. Christ, the light of the world, is the truth come
into it: every thing gets its true character from Him. "Grace," while it is
what is in God, is toward man. Look, now, at the breastplate. It was, as you
know, what was on the heart of the high-priest when he went in to God. In the
breastplate were the Urim and Thummim-"lights and perfections," as the words
mean; and the Urim and Thummim must be upon the priest in order that he might
give an answer from God.
Thus, in the day of the return from the
captivity, when the remnant who returned found certain priests who could not
show their genealogy, they were put from the priesthood, not because their
claim could be disproved, but because it could not be proved. There was no one
to decide the question whether they were really priests,- no recognized way of
getting an answer from God; and they were told that they must wait until there
should stand up a priest with Urim and Thummim. God might raise up a prophet
and send a message through him, as He did at that very time by Haggai and
Zechariah, but there was no regular way of access to God, to get answer such as
the case required.
Now, these Urim and Thummim are the things I want to
speak of particularly. "Lights and perfections" the term means, as I have said.
And these things are one: the "lights" are the "perfections,"- they are two
ways of speaking of the same thing. "God is light;" He is "the Father of
lights." That is to say, all partial displays of glory, of whatever character,
come from Him as Source. Light is a wonderful thing - a thing in which nature
itself (now that we have the Word) speaks to us very plainly, and very
beautifully too. According to the views of modern investigators, light is (as
God is) a trinity - a trinity in unity. These primary rays, so called, make up
the one ray of white, or colourless, light. There is, at the outset, a very
evident basis for the Scripture comparison.
But then there is something
more, and more striking, I think; and it is this: that the colour by which
every thing in nature is clothed comes from the light itself - from the
different combinations of these three primary colours; or, to express it
better, from the partial display by the object of the light itself. To make
plain what I mean: A blue object is one in which the red and the yellow rays of
the white light are absorbed, and only the blue, therefore, are left to come
out. The blue of the object is thus derived from the light itself. So with a
green object - the red alone is absorbed, and the blue and yellow combined
makes the colour green. Again, if the blue be absorbed, it is an orange; if the
yellow, a purple; and so on for all the rest.
Now, what a beautiful thought
that is! and how true, that every thing here - every work of God's hands is the
display, more or less, of some attribute or attributes in Himself. These
colours are the diverse glory of the one light, displayed in a various beauty,
which we have not eyes for in the one white ray. Yet, though invisible, these
colours are all there, and by being separated from one another are brought to
our notice, so that the distinct beauty of each is seen.
Now, that is
how God delights to come out and spread Himself before the vision of His
creatures. As "light" in Himself, we could at least but little know Him; but as
the "Father of lights," as He displays these before us, we learn Him so.
Take the gospels as an example, in which the one Son, whom in His fullness "no
man knows, but the Father only," is given to us in four separate ways, that, as
Son of David, as Minister (not ministered unto), as Son of Man, as Son of God,
we might be able to discern Him better. So, in fact, the separate books of
Scripture divide the truth for us into distinctly characterized parts, too
little realized, indeed, for what they are, or accepted in the gracious design
of God in shaping them.
So, again, in the Church,- collectively, the
"epistle (not epistles) of Christ." No man could be an epistle by himself - the
parchment is not broad enough to write it; yet each one, reflecting in its
measure some part of the divine image, and getting htus according to his
character, (or colour) may help to manifest Him to the eyes of men. Thus you
may find in one man, as in Job, remarkable patience, in another as remarkable
energy; seldom,perhaps, one who can display in equal measure the patience and
energy. Men are thus characterised by some over-balance - some one or more
things prominently developed, and which often means a defect of some other
quality; and yet to our dull eyes the predominent one is thus strikingly
brought out.
And so, beloved friends, does God display, in His various
dealings with us, His various attributes; in one thing His holiness shining out
pre-eminently, in another His truth, in another His love, and so on. Thus He
adapts His greatness to our littleness, speaking to us in languages that we are
able to bear, that we may apprehend Him more as He desires that we should.
A few words more as to the light. Not that I want to dwell upon this
too much; and yet I think it is not in vain, especially in the present day, to
speak of what nature presents to us, where Scripture gives us the only real
key. We find, if we turn to the first chapter of Genesis, that light was before
the sun. It puzzles the wise men to explain it; nevertheless for the natural to
figure the spiritual, it must be so. For what is the sun? Is it not a dark
earth-mass which God has clothed with the glory of the light - His image? Now,
that is what God has done in Christ. He has clothed humanity in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, with the glory of deity; and that is the Sun in
Scripture type. That "Sun of Righteousness" yet to rise upon the world with
healing in His wings is Christ - Immanuel: manhood clothed with the glory of
the godhead - dark no more.
Thus the "lights" in the breastplate are the
"perfections" the various perfections, of God Himself. these many-coloured
jewels are the manifold display of the divine excellency. And mark, these
jewels are crystallized lights - unchangeable perfections. It is not a display,
passing however great. In the rainbow, the token of God's covenant with the new
earth brought through the judgment, you have what is essentially similar in
character, but it is the display of God in one act. The whole diversified
display of divine glory, I believe,- the whole spectrum of colour-banding the
storm of divine judgment in the cross. "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and
God is glorified in Him." But however God might thus be at one time displayed,
it is for all time that He is displayed; for He is always the same, and that is
what is marked here. The jewels never lose and never change their light; and so
is God always the "Father of lights," always "without variableness or shadow of
turning."
Mark, now, where these stones are found. They are upon the
breastplate. And where is the breast-plate? Upon the heart of the high-priest.
The stones press upon the heart of Israel's high-priest. Surely we know now
what that means,- that the one who goes to God for man (and that is what the
priest does) must be one who has upon his heart before he goes, and as going,
all that God Himself is. Only Christ could be, or was, that; but all that God
is, in every varied attribute of His - every colour, so to speak, of the light
- is there upon His heart abidingly; so dear, that He can never forget it,
never lose sight of what is due to God in any one solitary particular.
But even that, taken by itself, would not qualify Him for a mediator. There
must be something else, and there is. The mediator-priest springs from the
tribe of Levi -"joined,"- third son of Israel; for in resurrection (of which
these "thirds" manifestly speak) alone can He "join" or bring others to God. In
Himself personally He is indeed, we know, a Levi -"joined" only begotten and
first-begotten-Man to God; but in resurrection is He priest-Levite to join as
Mediator others. This He is perfectly in heart as office; for upon these
jewels, "graven upon them with the engraving of a signet" ("Set me as a seal
upon thine heart," says the spouse in the Song of Songs), are the names of
God's people,- here, of course, the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; for
us, the type of all the people of God. These twelve names are engraven upon the
jewels, so that you would have to break the jewels to pieces to get them off.
There they abide, unchangeably as the jewels themselves. In the light of the
jewels you read the names. They are identified with the display of the lights
and perfections of God Himself; so that here is One upon whose heart the people
of God dwell, unfailingly and unchangeably connected with the display of the
glory of God. Standing as He does on the one hand for God, on the other for
man, it is not as if these were two separate or separable things with Him, much
less things that might be in opposition to one another; they are things seen
together, as the names written upon the Urim and Thummim-jewels - typically,
the divine perfections.
Beloved, that is what the Lord Jesus Christ is;
that is how He abides before God now, the blessed One who can never forget what
is due to God, never the need of His people, never the righteousness which must
be displayed in the blessing itself. Aye, for blessing, there must be
righteousness! and again, thank God, for righteousness now (such the value of
His work), there must be blessing! There is no discord then; there is the very
opposite. The blessing of the people is the very way in which the glory of God
is to be displayed. God takes them up for that very end; not merely to bless
them and retain this too, but to show it forth in blessing them, to the end
"that in the ages to come He might show forth the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
Thus the names are upon the
breastplate, and the breastplate upon the high-priest's heart. How glorious the
Person in whom all this is fulfilled - in whom Godhead and manhood meet in
one!- Immanuel !- in His own person "God with us." And oh, beloved friends,
marvellous as the cross is, (surely, the most marvellous thing that could be,)
yet we should do Him wrong if we thought of that prepared body of His as if it
was only prepared that He might go to the cross in it. No, He has taken it to
keep it forever and ever; He has taken it as the equivalent of those bored ears
of the Hebrew servant which signified perpetual service, when he might have
gone out free. Think of One who looked down upon us when we had all gone astray
from God -" turned every one to his own way "- and, seeing how we had fretted
ourselves against the will of God, and esteemed as bondage His easy yoke, took
up Himself that slighted path of obedience,- took up that service which we had
so disparaged,- never again to relinquish it, becoming Himself the "Leader and
Perfecter of faith," "learning obedience "- He to whom all was due- "from the
things which He suffered"! For that path of His lay not through a fair world,
decked out as Adam's was, but in one such as the sin of Adam and our sin had
made it,- a world to Him, beloved friends, such as we can scarcely have an idea
of; yet He chose such a world in order to display in it, amid all its misery,
how blessed the Father's will is.
See Him ministering to one poor needy
soul, as at the well of Sychar, where hungered and athirst Himself He ministers
to her and is satisfied. "I have meat to eat," He says to the disciples, as
they bring Him the food which they have procured,--"I have meat to eat which ye
know not of." He is satisfied. His meat is, to do the will of Him that sent
Him, and to finish His work. In hunger, in thirst, in weariness, in lowliest
service to one poor sinner, the Son of Man finds His own satisfaction, and
delights in the Father's will. And such as He was He is, however different may
be His surroundings now. He has taken this place unrepentingly, "Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday, today, and forever." yes, if I look at Him, I see how in
His very person God and man have met in an eternal embrace impossible to be
sundered. God's Fellow on the one side, owned such when He was upon the cross
-"' The Man that is My Fellow,' saith Jehovah of Hosts ;" on the other, the
cross accom -plished, "anointed with the oil of gladness above His
fellows.
What preciousness in the manhood of One of whom the apostle
can say, "We have heard Him with our ears, seen with our eyes, looked upon, and
our hands have handled"! Notice how in these words all distance is put away,
and He comes, as it were, continually nearer to us. For He might not be visibly
in sight at all to be heard with the ears, so it is added, "seen with our
eyes." Then, it is no mere momentary vision,-" we have looked upon" Him - have
had Him before us steadily and continuously. But more, "our hands have handled"
Him. And yet this is the One who is God over all, blessed forever; One "whom no
man hath seen nor can see, dwelling in the light. which no man can approach
unto." And this it is that gives its infinite value to that manhood in which He
gives Himself into our hands and hearts in all the blessed reality of
unchanging love.
But if He is God with God and God for man, He is also man
for God - true, perfect man, in whom manhood finds and fills its destined place
forever, - God's thought from eternity. "Lord, what is man, that Thou art
mindful of him?" has its answer in the One made a little lower than the angels;
His own title for Himself in the address to Laodicea -"The beginning of the
creation of God." He is the Mediator.
But now look how this runs
through His work. We have thought of Him a little in His path down here: what
was He on the cross? Oh, beloved friends, it is there that we find indeed the
very storm of judgment of which I have spoken, in which, after it has passed,
we see the many-coloured rays of divine glory. The rainbow was, as you know,
the sign of God's covenant with the new world risen from the flood; and this
blessed bow of promise is the sign of His covenant with the new creation
forever and ever. Sin shall no more disturb. God has been glorified as to it,
and being glorified, He has absolute title over it. Title, I do not mean, to
put sinners into hell: that title, of course, He ever had; but title in
goodness,- absolute title to show His grace. But now, what was the cross,
beloved friends? Surely the crisis in which was summed up the whole conflict
between good and evil, and the victory of divine goodness over evil. Sin had
come into the world, and God had been dishonoured by it. What was the hindrance
to God's coming in in grace? This: that He must first be honoured where He had
been dishonoured, and about that which had dishonoured Him. He must be
glorified,-that is, He must be displayed in His true character: not indifferent
to sin, and not indifferent to the misery resulting in a world of sin. He must
not fail in love, nor in righteousness. In the work which puts away sin, the
glory of God must be displayed,- that is, all the glory of divine goodness, for
that is His glory. Goodness must be manifested supreme over evil, supreme as
goodness. Not power must get the victory: that might put man in hell, but not
bring him to heaven. Not power, I say again, but goodness, and as such.
And on the cross, as is manifest, power is all on the other side. "He was
crucified through weakness." You see the power of man, you see the power of the
world, you see the power of the devil,- all these are manifested fully; and on
the side of the One who is left to suffer there, no sign of power at all. There
He is,- unresisting, helpless: men may do as they will with Him who made them.
He will not withdraw Himself, will not hide His face from shame and spitting.
He has taken the servant's place: "Man has acquired me from my youth," He says;
and even to a slave's death He will stoop for man. "What are those wounds in
Thy hands?" "Even those with which I was wounded in the house of My
friends."
And yet, "if God be for us, who can be against us?" And was He
ever otherwise than for His people? Let all others leave them, what is it to
them, if God be with them? Men have been in the fire itself and come out to
ask, as one did - the first martyr in Spain, when supposing he was going to
retract they had released him for the moment,-" Did you envy me my
happiness?"
How easily, then, could He, the Prince of martyrs, have
gone through martyrdom, if it were only that. Much as He felt all that man was
doing, and showing himself to be in all he did, yet in what perfect quietness
could He have gone through it all if it were only man's hour-"your hour," as He
said to the Jews,- aye, or Satan's! But oh, beloved friends, it was not that
only. God must be against Him. That was what gave its real character to the
cross; that was what distinguished the death of the Lord from the death of any
righteous man before or since; and it was that which gave even His precious
blood the power to sanctify us. It was not simply because He was what He was,
but that because, being such, He took our place, our guilt, bearing our sins in
His own body on the tree, His soul also being made a sacrifice for sin. This
was man's double sentence - death and judgment; both parts of this He took,
dying in the outside place, type of the deeper and more dread reality -
"Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood,
suffered without the gate."
But where was power in all that? Everywhere
against Him. This was not a victory that power could gain. Evil must be
overcome by good alone. He must be left to drink man's full cup to the dregs.
The One to whom God had given testimony -" This is My beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased," now cries, and is not heard. The One whom they had seen on the
mount transfigured, above the brightness of the sun, now lies with that glory
eclipsed in utter darkness. But not the pressure of that whole agony upon His
soul could get from Him aught in response but perfect sub-mission, unfaltering
obedience. The more the pressure, the more manifest the perfection - the
absolute perfection that was His: goodness absolute-"the Son of Man glorified,
and God glorified in Him."
Such was the cross. And thus, and thus only,
could flow out, as now we know them, those "rivers of waters in a dry place
"-yea, from the Rock itself, now smitten, the streams of abounding grace. There
had been no compromise; nothing had been given up; He had borne all.
Righteousness had been displayed, not merely conciliated. I look at the cross
to see in its fullness what the righteousness of God is. Righteousness,
holiness, love,- all that God is, has been displayed and glorified, and now He
can be what He will, He can be gracious. Such is the Mediator in His work
Godward and manward. How the jewels shine upon the golden breastplate! Let us
not think that God claimed from Him this work merely. God forbid. He who said,
"Lo, I come to do Thy will,"-He whom zeal for the Father's house devoured,-He
claimed the atonement, claimed and made it, both. And now, as the fruit of it,
He is gone up into the presence of God, to take there His place in His
presence, resurrection-priest and Mediator; no more on earth, for "if He were
on earth, He should not be a priest," but "such a high-priest became us, who is
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the
heavens." There, beloved friends, now He is for us, as we rejoice to know. Let
us look now at this truth of His priesthood, and of that other form of
intercession of which Scripture speaks - of advocacy. The priest is the
intercessor for infirmity; for if you look at the epistle to the Hebrews, it is
denied there that as such He has any thing to do with sin. He is now "separate
from sinners." His work of atonement had to do with sin, and so complete is the
efficacy of that that we are perfected by that precious blood which has gone
into the presence of God for us. "By the which will," says the apostle,
speaking of that will which Christ came to do,-"by the which will we are
sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all;" and
again, he says, "By one offering He has perfected forever He should give
eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him." They are given Him, put under
His hand and care, as of One of assured competency to bring them through. All
the responsibility of their salvation rests upon Him who has done the work of
atonement and gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made
subject to Him. Beloved, He is competent: God is satisfied - satisfied! Why, He
brought Him out in the face of man, of the world, of the devil, before His work
was done, when He had just pledged Himself to do it, as in John's baptism to
that deeper baptism which was to .follow,-He opened the heavens in testimony of
unmingled delight in Him: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
And what then? The Holy Ghost, just come upon Him, the seal of that divine
complacency, carries Him up into the wilderness. Why there? "To be tempted of
the devil." God says, "This is My beloved Son." I know Him; I can trust Him; I
can rest all My glory safely in His hands. Take Him away; try Him; do what you
please with Him; and see if He be not worthy of My delight.
Thus He goes
forth into the wilderness, (complete contrast with all the surroundings of the
first man,) to fast His forty days; not as a Moses or an Elias - to meet God,
but that in weakness, and with the hunger of that forty days upon Him, He may
meet man's adversary, and be fully tested. Did the Spirit of God ever bring up
another to be tempted in most utter need, in all the reality of human weakness,
by the devil?
Aye, God can trust Him. In a deeper need than that, in a
darker scene by far,- nay, darkness at its height, upon that awful cross, (the
last step in His self-emptying,) God could leave Him there in solitary
weakness, with all the counsels of God - all that which was to be the
manifestation of God in His own creation forever,- all His love and all His
righteousness,- all the blessing of man,- all, all, resting with its whole
weight upon Him ;- He can rest it there, I say, and turn away His head, and
leave all to Him, satisfied there shall be no loss of any one thing trusted to
His care.
And now, shall He not carry out what He has begun? Shall He
not, as the Captain of salvation, save to the uttermost (or bring right
through, as that means,) all that come unto God by Him? Yes, He, as risen
priest, shall have the responsibility of the people for whom He undertakes.
Every thing shall be in His hand, and come through Him. Our Mediator-Priest,
not interposed between us and God, as if He had not brought us Himself to God;
for in that sense He says, "I do not say that I will pray the Father for you,
for the Father Himself loveth you." No, we have not to come to Him that He may
go to God for us, as if we could not go to Him ourselves. That is not the
meaning of His intercession; but it does imply His charge of carrying through
to full result the blessed work He founded at the cross. Whatever is in
question here, He is the One who is with the Father, Himself also God. With
man, on the other hand, about it too. He is the One who as Priest or Advocate
goes to God, or as Guardian of His people charges Himself with all their need.
He can take the basin and towel to wash the feet of His people, that they may
have part with Him.
And how in this action once more the character of
the Mediator appears! He is going up to God -He is going up, His work just
accomplished. For although as a fact it had not yet been completed, He can, in
the consciousness of what He is, already account it so. As the One, then, into
whose hands all things are given, and who comes from God and goes to God, He
rises from supper, and takes a towel and girds Himself. The jewels are upon His
breast. He cannot give up what is due to God, nor we have part with Him except
we are cleansed according to His estimate.
But then, mark, it is not
merely, "Except you are washed," you can have no part with Me, but, "Except I
wash you." Thus this most necessary work He will accomplish for us, stooping to
the towel and the basin as in love the Servant of our need. Peter may resist,
but Peter and all must bow. His embrace must hold us fast to God. Blessed be
His name, if the jewels are on His breast, His people's names are engraved upon
the jewels.
Let us ask ourselves, Are we submitting to this washing? Do
not look at it, beloved friends, as if it were a question of souls gotten away
from God. Don't let us think, if we are going on, as we may think, pretty well,
and our consciences bear witness of nothing particularly against us,- don't
think it implies that we have no need of this washing. It is not a thing of
which we have need once or twice in a lifetime. We have constant need of being
in the hands of this blessed One; not merely of taking the Word and judging for
ourselves what is wrong,-of judging this or that,- but of putting ourselves
into His hands and saying, Lord, I may not know even what is wrong, but without
reserve I come to Thee, that I may learn from Thee what cleanness is, not
taking my thought at all. You see what it implies, brethren,- that it implies
an absolute surrender into His hands; and you and I are not right, not fit to
have part with Him, if there is with us tonight a reserve,- if we would say,
"Cleanse off that spot" merely. That is not it. It will not do if we are not
looking up to Him and saying, rather, "Search me, 0 God, and try me; prove my
reins and my heart; see well if there be any wicked way in me; and lead me in
the way everlasting."
Are you and I with the Lord Jesus Christ without
reserve like that? Are we ready to be told, whatever the evil is; asking God to
search it out? Not merely saying, I repeat, "I am not conscious of any thing
particularly wrong." Are we exercising ourselves to have always a conscience
void of offense toward God and toward man? Are we in the consciousness of the
failure of our own judgment, looking to Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire,
who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and asking Him to see well if
there be in us any thing He cannot tolerate?
For we must be cleansed
according to His own estimate, in order to have fellowship with Him.
Oh, beloved, how easy for our hearts to slip out of this fellowship, blessed as
it is! Let us be jealous over ourselves, and not take for a heart in communion
a heart at peace with itself because unexercised. If our feet are in His hands,
then, thank God, He takes the responsibility of our being cleansed. Basin and
towel are His, with all things in heaven and earth also. We shall have part
with Him even now;- in the midst of a poor, poor world, rotten to the core with
sin, blessed, satisfying part with Him. Which of us would sacrifice it for
aught else whatever that could be given us?
And now I want to point
your attention to this before I close,- that, as I have said, the regular
communication with God in Israel was by means of the Urim and Thummim. If they
wanted an answer from God as to a certain thing, an oracular judgment about it,
it was a priest who had Urim and Thummim who must go to God.
How can we
apply this now? First of all, of course, to Christ our great High-Priest, who
is passed into the heavens; but as a principle for us, and an important one, we
may apply it this way: If we seek and obtain a divine answer as to any thing in
the Church down here, what characteristics will it have to prove itself a
divine answer? Well, surely these two which the Urim and Thummim imply. God
must first of all have His place in it. We must see the jewels, the lights and
perfections, whole and altogether there. But then across the jewels must be
seen the names of His people too. Love,- divine love - to His people must
characterize it, as well as love for God. Nay, the apostle asks how he who
loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, can in fact love God whom he hath not
seen.
Here are two things that will surely characterize every divine
judgment - every judgment of the Priest with Urim and Thummirn. If God is light
on the one hand, He is love on the other. As partakers of the divine nature, we
must be doers of righteousness on the one hand; on the other, we know that we
have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. Nay, as light
and love are one in God, however much to us they may be two, so we may be sure
of this: that whatever is not righteousness is not love, as whatever is not
love is not righteousness.
Perhaps we have learned to say, if a thing
be not righteous, it is not love; and it is most true and most important: for
true love to my brother is not indifferent to evil in him, and cannot be. How
can I take no notice of that which is dragging down his soul, and dishonouring
God in him? It is impossible that love can act so. Call it social good feeling,
if you will; that is love according to man's idea: but it lacks the divine
quality - it leaves out God. But leave Him out, and you have left out every
thing. "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and
keep His commandments." That is the test. Emotion is all well, but the test is
not emotion. Obedience is the test, and nothing else.
It is not love to
our brother if in the way we show it we are not keeping His commandments; but
on the other hand, it is not keeping His commandments if we are not showing
love. Do not imagine that there can be righteousness apart from love. As I say,
these two things are really, at the bottom, one. If God has shown us love, for
us to show it is but righteousness. What witness have we, if it be not witness
of the grace we have received? Surely, of nothing so much are we the witnesses.
Is there not sometimes a very sad and serious mistake, as if because it is
grace we are called to show, that therefore as to quantity and quality, as it
were, we may please ourselves about it?- nay, as if it were a little something
extra we were doing in showing it at all! Ah, but God will require from us what
He has been showing us. It is not a work of supererogation to show grace.
Look at this man. He owes his master an immense sum - ten thousand talents,
representing perhaps £2,ooo,ooo,- and he is bankrupt: he cannot even make
composition, he has nothing to pay. So he comes and falls down at his master's
feet, and beseeches him for time in which to pay him. But his master is moved
with compassion, and he does more,-" he loosed him, and forgave him the
debt."
Now, mark this forgiven man. "But the same servant went out, and
found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence"- a pitiful
sum in comparison, about £3 : 2s: 6d, calculated at fhe same rate,-"and
he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me that thou
owest.'" Then, in words and action so like his own, you would think it must
have smitten him to the heart, "his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and
besought him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will pay thee all.'" Could
you imagine a heart so hard?-"He would not, but went and cast him into prison
till he should pay the debt." What does the lord of both men do when he hears
this? "0 thou wicked servant," he says, "I forgave thee all that debt because
thou desiredst me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy
fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee?" And his lord was wroth, and
delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
Beloved, what a lesson for us,- that for those who have received grace it is
but riçhteousness to show it. It is not, I say again, a little overplus
- a little more than duty,-something it is very good for us to do, and if we
fail in it, it will not be required of us. It is a positive, absolute duty: God
will require it of us.
And though it be in matters which concern God
directly, and although it is true we cannot forgive debts that are due to God,
we must not take it as if He could tolerate in us what He does not Himself
practice - mere exaction. Neither must we forget, whether it be as regards our
brother or ourselves, that grace, and grace alone, breaks the dominion of sin.
The law is the strength of it.
Do not overset the balance on either
side, beloved friends. Remember, the Priest who has the Urim and Thummim alone
can give the divine answer. In a true judgment of any thing, God must be first
ever, but in indissoluble union with His people, as He holds them together,
blessed be His name, the true High-Priest, upon whom is the breastplate of
righteousness; as He will hold them fast forever: He, the Mediator between God
and man, the Man Christ Jesus.
F.W.G.
Chapter Two - Outside the Camp
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