THE WIFE OF PILATE

Part III

Soon it will be eternity, then each will have to bear his own burden. We won’t have to answer for someone else, but it will be a personal question for each and everyone of us, whether the true work of God has been glorified in us. Whether we have been born again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ out of the dead, and whether we have been cut off from Adam, whether our naked and guilty soul has ever been clothed upon with the righteousness of Christ.

Whether we have come in a reconciled relationship with God, and have tasted the peace of God that passeth all understanding and shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ, Phil. 4:7. We are in a sad condition if the main things have become secondary matters with us. Once more, what our personal concern really is: are we building upon that firm foundation of the Apostles and prophets, of which Jesus Christ Himself is the chief corner stone? Have we learned to know a Surety for our guilt and a God for our heart, in a way of Justice and Righteousness; but also as a pass for heaven? That is the purpose of God’s upright people. That is what often drives them to the throne of grace. That is stronger one time than an other. But that is what lives in their heart. They become aware that they cannot glorify God, wherein they do not know God. And they need the aforementioned matters to be able to answer those that revile them; to be able to say with David: “In God I put my trust, I neither doubt nor fear, for man can never harm with God my helper near.”

And the more that the corruption of their heart is revealed to them, the less they will concern themselves about other people. In Rom. 7:24, Paul was not speaking about other people, but he testified of what he saw in himself: “O, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” I’ve once heard, that someone said on his deathbed: “I have spent my whole life condemning other people, but I’ve never condemned myself, and now the Lord is ready to condemn me forever.” How distressing is such a death-bed! Yes, distressed, but not sorrowful.

That is also the way Saul died, and thus Judas also went to his damnation. Mary, in Matt. 26, who anointed Christ in preparation of His burial out of the abounding love of her heart, was also attacked by Judas, but how dearly he had to pay for it. It is always a sad sign, but also questionable, if we stay converted in ourselves and rashly condemn others. Who condemns himself in uprightness of heart shall not be condemned by God. For such God has taken the judgment away, Who let Himself be condemned, so that His people shall eternally go free.

In the evening of my life I often think back to so many of God’s children and servants, who so often accused themselves before the Lord, and could so fervently entreat, for the redeeming, purifying and sanctifying blood of Christ; who were more concerned about themselves than about others. There are more Pharisees in the visible church than publicans. Many people help themselves but cannot say with the poet of Ps. 86:9 that God had helped them. We can have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. God’s people must often examine themselves closely whether it is true, but not they. A Pharisee goes to eternity without any real concern—converted without regeneration and delivered without ever having been in bands. O, surely, God’s people can also be far from their place; oftener from their place than on their place; sometimes so perverse; sometimes they reveal themselves as a thistle that you cannot touch. Also their nature and their character can sometimes be so confused—but it is not always thus. God’s people may and must return. Huntington wrote, “the police pursue those people.” And Bunyan wrote that he was sometimes beaten with the stick “guilt” so that he lay on the ground stunned. But the Lord does not let His people lie there. Friends, if it concerns the honor of God, let us then risk our all; let us then be as a lion— bold as a young lion. If it concerns ourselves, then it is a privilege for us to be as a lamb. The Lord says in His Word: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourself, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Rom. 12:19. The Lord will never be with us while we strive for ourselves. It is a poor life when we have to take it up for ourself. Mary, in Matt. 26, didn’t do that either. Christ took it up for her. Even though we sometimes must wait a long time, He takes it up for His people in this life. But He will surely also do that in eternity, in the great day of Judgment.

O save me by Thy Name
And judge me in Thy Might;
O God, now grant my urgent claim,
Acceptance in Thy sight.

Ps. 54:1—Psalter 147:1

That it would please the Lord, that we might be enlightened by His Spirit to rightly know ourselves. To be more afraid of ourselves than of anyone else, because we are such dangerous creatures, to loathe ourselves and seek for our purification and salvation, without ourselves, to find it alone in Christ Jesus; and to walk before the face of God in humbleness and child-like fear all the days of our life.

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