Hymn 263. Hebrews 2:6,
"But one in a certain place testified saying, "What is man that
Thou art mindful
of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest him. But we see
Jesus Who was made
a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death,
crowned with glory
and honour that He by the grace of God should taste death for
every man." Paul
was writing to professing people. This is what we see in
Jesus, not with the
mind, but with the heart. This visitation of man goes beyond
the mind. Because
of sin a need arose, and God promised that Jesus would come
and visit the
world. Why did God do this'? God was able to annihilate Adam
and Eve and start
all over again, but by the wondrous grace of God, with all our
family human
life, Jesus came to visit us, and what we see in Jesus is the
plan of God that
He would come into our lives. This is the same as what we read
in creation. God
gave dominion to man over all things, put him in charge of the
animals, the
birds, the fishes in the sea. This was God's arrangement that
all would be in
subjection to man. But now we see not all things in
subjection, because of sin
man no longer has dominion over all things. Sin had power over
him. The
adversary had power over us, and man was not in charge of
things because of
sin. Then we see Jesus who came, who had dominion over all
things. He was
tested and proved in all things, to with stand all kinds of
opposition. Many
products that are made are given a test, a pressure test, a
compression test, a
heat test, a freezing test, to prove the quality, to see if it
will stand. Then
they can advertise that product with the standard of what it will stand. At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, He was baptised, and
directed by the
Spirit into the wilderness and had all
the stress and pressure upon Him for 40 days. He was tested in
all points, but
He was Lord over the power of the adversary. Jesus is Lord. We
see Jesus as
Lord over all opposition, and in every problem or stress, Jesus
is Lord, and as
we believe by faith, in Him, He will deliver us, He will free
us. As we pray,
believing, our faithful God will give us deliverance. In the
world, there is
much persuasion of the mind, but we are persuaded in the
heart. It is not in
the mind, but in the heart, where the change must come. Making a phone call is
like serving God. When we dial, we must dial the right number.
It is no good
doing it almost, having all the numbers right but one, we
might get someone
else and there is no satisfaction in the phone call. Sometimes
the line is
busy, but it is never so with God. Sometimes we are put on
hold, and we are
left waiting, but this is never so with God. Sometimes there
is a recording, to
leave a message, but not so with God. We must come to God with
reverence and
Godly fear. Jesus said, "Hallowed by Thy Name," a reverence, a
dignity, and a
Godly fear. Come in the right spirit, be contrite and humble,
this attitude
reaches the ear of God. God never delivered His people at
their own
convenience, but only in His wisdom, so that people would know
that God was
God. When they were leaving Egypt, there was distress of soul.
They were not
distressed because of making bricks, but when it came to
drowning their sons,
they had to come to grips with this experience. It was not the
hard task
masters that caused them the distress, but they became
desperate when Egypt was
going to drown their sons. They prayed and wept and God heard
them, and
delivered them. God never delivered His people in the first
experiences, when
the river became blood, when the fish died in the sea, none
were delivered. It
was only in the spirit of obedience, when the people put the
blood of the Lamb
on the door post, that they were saved. It was only in the spirit
of obedience that Jesus did His miracles. He never saved life
unless it gave
confidence in Him. It was Jesus' work on Calvary that delivered
people. On the
journey, there was no bread, there was no quick stop bakery.
God allowed the
bread to run out before He brought His miracle. He did this to
prove them, when
there was a real need, a hunger, and they began to look around
to see where
help would come from. We may talk to others and see if they
are adequate to
help, but God withheld help to see what the people would do,
then He provided
and met the need. There are times when we pray to God, full of
fear and doubt,
and God proves us to see if we trust Him. In Hebrews 1, we see a
great contrast in Jesus. God gave Jesus a better name, an
excellent name that
He never gave to the angels. An angel caused our earthly
parents to fall in the
garden. God never said to an angel, "Thou art My Son." Then unto
Jesus, He said,
"Thy throne 0 God is forever and ever, a scepter of
righteousness is the scepter
of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated
iniquity." When a person
is raising fruit, they understand the weeds. Jesus hated weeds
and loved
flowers, He loved righteousness. There was a strong contrast
to what was wrong.
Compromise is defeat on the installment plan. They who are
faithful in the least
are faithful in much. These are laws we cannot escape from.
"Thou, Lord, in the
beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the
heavens are the works
of Thine hands." People tell us that the world is gradually
wearing out,
resources are being used up, but Jesus is the same. He is not
becoming
decrepit, blind, and not able to help, He is just as mighty to
help. We see
Jesus, every aspect of His life, His majesty, authority,
power, kingship. The
more we see of Him, it affects our hearts and we love Him more
and more. It is
love that makes all the difference. We can serve God by duty,
by making a good
impression, but this will make us weary. When we are in love,
it is easy, when
we are in love with Jesus in the heart, a love service is not
hard. This is not
a paid service. We do not get the feeling that I have so much
and others do not
have so much. Jesus asked Peter, "Lovest
thou Me more than these? Then follow Me." Peter looked and saw
John and said,
"What will this man do?" Jesus said to Peter, "Never mind John,
the responsibility
of service between John and I, that is ours, but you see to it
that you follow
Me." There is something in us that we do not like definite and
positive
doctrine. We want things to be left open so there is room and
space, room for
us to have our own way. Jesus is pure, almighty, and we want
to love Him
completely, having no doubt. Jesus was made lower than the
angels, He was made
in a human body. We ought to give the more earnest heed to the
things which we
have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Or, run
out as leaking
vessels. When we put something in a leaking vessel, the hole
may not be at the
bottom, the hole may be near the top, and it will always leak
out at that
level. With us there may be a place of concession, a place of
unwillingness, a
place of rebellion, we will go that far and it will leak out.
In Jeremiah 35,
it is a marvellous chapter on consecration in a human sense.
Jonadab had said
to his children, his daughter and sons, "You shall drink no
wine, neither ye, or
your sons forever, neither shall ye build house or sow seed
nor plant vineyard,
nor have any, but all your days ye shall dwell in tents that
ye may live many
days in the land where ye be strangers." 300 years later, Jeremiah
invites his descendants to a special occasion, into the temple
area and this
was such an honour. He set wine before them, but they said,
"No, we don't drink
wine." This was the command of a man, but they honoured that
message. They kept
his commandment for 300 years. Let us take more
earnest heed to the things that first began to be spoken by
the Lord, that His
message would affect us, and that this convention would apply
to us. For it
became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all
things, in bringing
many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through
suffering. This is something that thrills my soul. It doesn't
say, "We would see
Jesus," but we do see Jesus. We see Jesus in complete
control, sanctified and He is not ashamed to call us His
brethren. The
righteousness in Christ enables us to have fellowship with our
brethren. To be God's child, there
is no greater honour, no greater responsibility, no greater
place in being
God's child, and Jesus caused this to be. We love Jesus and
all those whom God
has fathered, they are our brethren. The father hood of God
brings the
brotherhood of man. It is not an improve yourself program, it
is by becoming
His child, and loving Jesus and all those whom He fathers.
This gives us
victory over the power of death, the fear of dying, darkness.
We are all our
life time subject to this bondage. Jesus was delivered from
the fear of death,
and this is our inheritance forever. We are the sons of God,
the seed of
Abraham, one seed - Christ. Abraham rejoiced to see the day of
Jesus, and he
saw it and was glad. He was to be the father of many nations.
He would say that
is impossible. He was able to understand that one of his
descendants would die
for the sins of man, and would be raised again, and through
this gospel all
nations hear it. This is an everlasting work. He is our great
high priest. Jesus was sympathetic to the people, because He was in all points tempted like as we are. This was not like the Old Testament high priest, because he was the oldest son of a particular family of Aaron, and when he was 2 years old, he would understand that, one day, he was to be high priest. He was raised in a special place, raised in a special city, and the whole nation would realise that he was a special boy. His brothers and sisters would know that he would be high priest, and it would mean special care, special reverence. He was carried about as a special boy, and everyone would seek his esteem, because they would want to have his favour when he was high priest. Jesus was not like that. He had brothers that did not know that He would be the Saviour of the world. He did work in a trade. Can any good thing come from Nazareth? His people brought Him to the brow of the hill and wanted to push Him over. Jesus had understanding in all, that He would be our eternal high priest. We see Jesus, fully sympathetic, because He Himself went through every experience. We see Him risen, interceding, He is merciful. It does not mean that He over looks sin, but God has made provision through Him whereby we can be cleaned, where sin can be attended to. We do not close our eyes to sin, but we are delivered from it, and then we can sing songs of praise, that sin has been dealt with and we are free, it is not held against us. It is our confidence in Christ that can help us. This is the truth and I believe it. This brings song in the battle, song in grief and sorrow. Psalm 2:12, "Kiss the Son lest He be angry and ye perish from the way." We want to be true, we want to embrace Him, with outstretched hands, embrace all the promises of God.
|