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THE
NEW LIFE by
John Marshall
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Chapter
23 • OUR
LORD AND SAVIOUR
When Jesus and the disciples were on their way to Jericho
after the proclamation of the purpose of his ministry two
blind men who were sitting by the way-side cried out: "Have
mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David." The scribes
and Pharisees may have been blind to the qualities of divine
glory in Jesus-but not the sick, the maimed, the blind. They
sought and found compassion and mercy and they were made free
from the burdens of sin. The two blind men were given their
sight "and they followed him".
John, at the outset of the ministry of Jesus, had caught the
spirit of his life and teaching: in his record he said that
when the Word of God became flesh and dwelt with men, "We
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth."
Truth is not only knowledge of doctrine: it is knowledge of
God and of Jesus; it is of a life full of compassion, grace
and mercy which are the fruits of divine love. These will
remain when knowledge of doctrine has vanished.
Jesus would not have been "the express image of God's
person" if he had not manifested these qualities of glory.
As the Father was, is and will be, so the Son; and as adopted
children of the Father we have to manifest the family likeness.
As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, we have to be "imitators
of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, even as Christ
also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and
a sacrifice in God for an odour of a sweet smell".
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References
Matt 20v28, Matt 20v30, John 1v14,
1 Cor 13v8, Eph 5v1-2
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Chapter
23 • OUR
LORD AND SAVIOUR
Perfection through Suffering
It was the selfless giving, the compassionate divine love that led
Jesus to accept the "sufferings" which came to him as
the result of the knowledge of his mission. But it was through these
very "sufferings" that he was made perfect. With the weight
of the world's agony of sin on his shoulders, and with his experience
of the wickedness of men in high places he learned perfect obedience
to his Father's will. "For it became him, for whom are all
things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings."
When we examine our own lives in comparison with that of Jesus who
sacrificed so much for us, we ought to realize the magnitude of
what he achieved and the meagreness of what we do in return. Yet
nothing is more certain than that each of us is capable, in him,
of achieving far more for him and for the Father who chose us. There
is something heartening in Paul's confidence in this respect: "I
can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
We need to examine our thoughts, motives, words and deeds more closely,
to see if we bear the divine family likeness. For example, most
of us would endure some sacrifice for the sake of those whom we
love, or hold in affection; but how many of us would suffer loss
for the sake of people we do not know, or who may even be our enemies?
How many of us could safely confess our secret faults to one another,
or expect a calm and loving hearing if a difficult matter were brought
before the ecclesia?
All these things would be possible if we all strove to bear the
characteristics of the divine family; the characteristics borne
by God, manifested by angels, seen at their best in Jesus who "tasted
death for every man" and which should be
bearing fruit in "the many sons". Of such, we are told,
Jesus "is not ashamed to call them brethren . . ."
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References
Heb 2v10 RV, Phil 4v13, Heb 2v9, Heb 2v11
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