A MEDITATION

At the time referred to in our text Christ was in the regions of Galilee. In the foregoing part of this chapter we read that Christ and three of His disciples were upon a mount, where His glorious transfiguration took place. The general belief is that this was on Mount Tabor. There Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with Him of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem, verse 31. Upon that mountain the Father let His Son Jesus have a foretaste of the glory which He would receive after His suffering and death. This is what the Father yet gives to His children at times: namely, a foretaste of their eternal glory while in this wilderness and before their decease. Quite often the Lord favors with a blessed Tabor before they are led into depths of suffering and bitterness and through dark nights and storms, in which it may seem they shall perish. But no! Immanuel is with them!

The time was rapidly approaching that Jesus was to be taken up. No, He was not always to remain in the howling wilderness of this world as a Man of sorrows. The time was not far away that Jesus, after the great work of meriting salvation for His dear people, was to be taken into the glory of heaven, of which He had a foretaste uon Mount Tabor. Soon He could leave this world with all its enemies, troubles, suffering and death. Soon the appointed time would arrive for the Father to take His Son to Himself in heaven and place Him at His right hand, of which we read in Mark 16:19: “So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.”

How great was the exaltation and glory awaiting Christ, Who was yet in a state of such deep humiliation at the time of which our text speaks. This exaltation and glory was promised to Him. as we find in Psalms 2 and 22, Isaiah 53, and other places in Scripture. After the cross there shall be an eternal crown upon the head of Christ Jesus, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. John, while upon the isle of Patmos, saw a glorious crown, yea, many crowns upon the blessed head of Immanuel in glory. Every child of God, having been saved by the blood of the Lamb of God, shall have a crown for their dear Lord and God. Their song shall be, “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”

This promised glory was before Jesus at all times during His stay in this sinful world. Paul says in Hebrews 12:2: “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” It was for an appointed time, appointed before the world was made, that this eternal glory and honor was to come to the Man of sorrows. On that time appointed He would be taken up by His blessed Father out of the howl ing wilderness of this world and life.

In this respect all the followers of Christ shall become conformed to their Master. They are in the wilderness of this world and life. This life is for them a continual death. It is not the land of rest. In this world they shall have many tribulations. But they are not in this world to stay; on God’s appointed time, and upon the solid ground of the finished work of Christ on the cross, they shall be taken up to be with Christ forever. What a wonder! They shall be taken out of this world so full of troubles and struggles, miseries and tears, dark nights and storms. Are they not heirs of eternal life and glory? How many seeking souls miss the assurance by faith of this eternal glory, but their hope upon Christ and His word shall not be made ashamed. What a comfort Paul had in all his afflictions, having been able to say: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2 Cor. 5:1.

When the time was drawing nigh that Jesus would be received up into heaven, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.

In the face of all that inexpressible anguish, suffering and death, Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem! He took the shortest way, through the land of the Samaritans, to go there. Jerusalem was the capital of Canaan, and there was the temple of the Lord, where many offerings were brought to be sacrificed upon the altar. That earthly Jerusalem was a symbol or emblem of the heavenly Jerusalem, the eternal dwelling place of all the saints. To that heavenly city all God’s dear children shall be taken to dwell with their Redeemer forever. It is a city that shall never be destroyed. No enemy can come nigh it or enter it. O blessed heaven of eternal life and peace!

Into Jerusalem Jesus shall be taken on the appointed time, being led thither from Gethsemane, where the band of enemies shall make Him a prisoner. In Jerusalem Jesus shall be condemned to die by the Jewish and the worldly court. Yes, condemned as the Surety and Substitute of His Bride by the heavenly court to die the cursed death on the cross. In Jerusalem and on Calvary the heavenly Judge shall speak: “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My Fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered,” Zech. 13:7. There the Savior shall be pierced by the sword of the Almighty, and without the camp the Lamb of God shall bleed from many wounds and suffer death and hell for His Bride in the greatest love and affection.

Did Christ know that all this would come upon Him? He certainly did, and yet He set His face to go to Jerusalem and undergo it all. We are so inclined to run away from shame and pain, but not the suffering Savior. He had undertaken to do this before the world was made in the Council of Peace. He knew it was His Father’s will for Him to do so. He knew that only in such a way He could ransom His Bride and satisfy justice and open a fulness of sovereign grace for the guilty.

Then steadfastly, with a perfect resolution and determination, Jesus goes to Jerusalem. Nothing and no one can deter Him or dissuade Him. Steadfastly Jesus goes forth as the only High Priest to offer Himself as a sin-atoning Sacrifice, steadfastly He goes forth upon His way of suffering till the bitter cup is empty and He cries out on His cross, “It is finished!” And now steadfastly Jesus also goes His way in saving His sheep so that none of them shall perish. “He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.”

Here then is instruction and admonition for the true followers of the Lamb in the wilderness of this world, to follow Jesus the suffering Man of sorrows in a steadfast faith to Jerusalem and Calvary; to mourn that they have pierced their Beloved with their sins; but may they also be given to exclaim in faith with the Church in olden times: “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed,” Isa. 53:5; to then also receive strength and courage from Jesus to journey steadfastly towards the heavenly Jerusalem. Oh, how necessary it is to be drawn away from this low world, all its vanities and idols, and in all our sorrows and troubles, all our fears and disappointments, to have our face set towards Jerusalem, the city that has strong and everlasting foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God. Oh, may Jesus be our Helper at all times, our hope and expectation.

Never has this low world been so full of sorrow as at the present time. The nations seem determined to rend one another to pieces. The spectacle presented to the eyes of heaven is beyond our power and comprehension. Hearts are everywhere torn and broken, and their wail ascends to God.

That the nations deserve chastisement is undoubted. Privileges, great and many, have been showered upon them from above, with but a poor response to the beneficent Giver of them all. But however richly merited, the suffering of the mo. ment is very real, and in the midst of it all are the beloved children of God, sharers of necessity in the world’s griefs and woes.

Let us, however, as the followers of the Lamb, steadfastly “look up, and lift up our heads,” Luke 21:28. One hope is left to us. If everything earthly is rent from us, there is “A hope laid up for us in heaven,” Col. 1:5. One suffering pilgrim has written:

“But the city to which I am traveling
Will more than my trials repay,
All the toils of the road will seem nothing
When I get to the end of the way.”

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen