The Prophetic Telegraph - - No.62
When
applying for a job. one normally has to write a CURRICULUM VITAE. and append
the names of two REFEREES, who will be willing to give a confidential CHARACTER
REFERENCE on one's behalf. On receipt of the C.V. and the two CHARACTER
REFERENCES, the Employer decides whether the Applicant suits his needs better
than any of the other numerous applicants. I suppose this system has been used
in more or less this fashion for thousands of years with slight modifications.
In this paper I would like to write a CHARACTER REFERENCE of our Lord, based on
the evidence provided in the four gospels. Of course, such a reference is not
needed, especially by me! God forbid that I should feel the need to supply one.
But my purpose is to glorify the Son of God, and I sense the propriety of that.
At the start of our Lord's ministry, and just after His baptism. a voice from
heaven declared. "This is my Beloved Son. in whom I am well pleased."
Here is the definitive word of God the Father in the position of our Lord's
"Employer" saying that His Son was ideally suited for the tasks that
lay ahead. The gospel writers do not tell us who heard this voice, other than
the Lord Himself. But the message from heaven required another ear to hear it.
The fact that it has been recorded suggests that John the Baptist heard it and
made it known to others.
At a later time in His ministry, the Lord took three of His disciples up a
mountain, where He was transfigured before them. The disciples then heard the
Father's voice saying, "This is my Beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased. Hear Him." They were awe-struck and fell on
their faces. God the Father was saying that His Son's progress had been wholly
satisfactory.
Just before the crucifixion, at the time of the raising of Lazarus, the Lord
prayed and said, "Father, glorify Thy name."
And a voice came from heaven. saying. "I have both glorified
it, and will glorify it again." Nobody else in the crowd
heard the words. They thought it was thunder or the voice of an angel. God the
Father here sets the seal on His Son's ministry. He started well. He continued
well, and He finished glorifying His Father's name. As the
"Employer", God had chosen One who absolutely, completely, and
unreservedly fulfilled all that He desired.
Because of these three "heavenly interventions" declaring God's
pleasure in His Son, we have no need to underscore the Lord's character in any
way. In fact anyone who writes about the Lord Jesus in a derogatory manner must
face God eventually with a sense of shame. The fact that our Lord promised
forgiveness to all such, does not exonerate us from blame if we cast aspersions
on the divine character.
May we investigate an aspect of our Lord' s character to demonstrate the
worthiness that gave His Father such pleasure? I believe that in so doing we
shall find pleasure as well.
In reading the gospels I have often noticed how frequently the Lord insisted
that people refrain from advertising Him. "See that you tell no
man." "See that no man knows it." "See that you tell it not
in the town." To whom was He addressing these words? In each
case a person had just been healed. Some were blind, others deaf and yet others
had been lepers. In the case of Jairus's daughter, she had just been raised
from the dead. Such references are particularly frequent in Mark's gospel.
For a long time I have been somewhat puzzled by our Lord's words. Surely I
thought, He must have known how utterly impossible it would be for a blind man
not to announce his new-found sight, or a deaf man his ability to hear at last,
or the leper to display his perfect flesh to the delight of all? And what about
Jairus? How could he keep quiet when everybody knew that his daughter had died
and been raised?
And the gospels make it abundantly clear that few if any kept His word. They
went and published abroad the wonders and the marvels that they had witnessed.
How then are we to understand the Lord's insistence on keeping quiet? In
Matthew
I can imagine these two men, able to see at last, and in a pitch of excitement,
walking about, even running, and telling everyone that they can see. Their
friends and relatives would stare in amazement, and want to know how it
happened. It is too much for human nature to reply, saying. "I'm sorry,
it's a secret. I've been told not to say anything." And what is more, I am
quite sure the Lord knew that too. I don't believe for one moment that He
expected people to keep quiet about the amazing miracles He performed.
Let's have a closer look at the raising of Jairus's daughter. The ruler of the
synagogue's servant approached the Lord, saying that it was too late. Jairus's
daughter had died. Undeterred, Jesus walked home with him, and saw the crowd of
"professional mourners" outside the home. making obscene wailing
noises. "She is not dead, but sleeping," the
Lord announced, which changed their wailing into mocking laughter. Inside the
house He ordered everyone out save the father and mother and three of His
disciples. Taking the girl's hand He said, "Talitha koum".
(meaning "Little maid, wake up.") Immediately
she awoke and stood up and walked, to their utter amazement. But the Lord cut
short their wonderment and amazement by saying, "Give her
something to eat." And finally He sternly ordered them not to
make known what had happened.
Why did the Lord handle the matter in this fashion? In all probability He just
walked out afterwards with His disciples saying nothing to the jeering crowds
and the wailing mourners. He allowed them to continue their mockery. I am
assured of this. He would never have "strictly charged" Jairus to
keep quiet and then splashed it into the open Himself on leaving. The whole
episode was handled in such a way that people were left to believe that the
little maid had not really died at all, but just needed healing.
I think that, more than on any other occasion where a miracle had been
performed, this one displays the REASON why our Lord behaved in this fashion,
and once the lesson has been learned, we shall be the wiser ourselves.
Jairus and his wife were allowed to witness the resurrection of their daughter.
They KNEW what had happened, and I doubt very much whether they hushed it up
afterwards. After all, everyone knew that the little girl had died. Therefore
the Lord chose to have her father and mother present, as also Peter, James, and
John. These five witnesses were needed. The glory of the Lord was manifested,
and these five were the privileged witnesses.
But immediately after the "Great event". the Lord deflects their
attention from the event itself to the needs of the child. who required some
nourishment. It is all beginning to add up. The purpose behind it is gradually
emerging. He did everything to deflect attention away from Himself! THAT is the
vital point.
Now we must ask ourselves what lay behind this necessity. Why should the Lord
want to deflect attention from Himself? And the answer is simply that of PRIDE.
He knew the temptation that accompanied success and wanted to squash it flat
before it had a chance to grow. Maybe some of my readers will object to the
thought that the Lord could have been subject to pride. But I think we have
very cogent reasons for believing just that. Let me explain.
At the start of His ministry, we are told that "The Spirit
drove Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil." And
after the forty days of fasting, the Devil suggested that He could throw
Himself off the pinnacle of the
If the Lord was impervious to such temptation. then the Devil would not have
put it into His mind. We are therefore made to attend to this vital fact, that
our Lord was indeed "Tempted in all points like ourselves. and
yet without sin." He nevertheless knew the power of pride. He
knew and knew keenly, that success is always accompanied by the temptation of
pride.
Let someone who has had similar experience speak. Here is a man who has led a
godly life, and just occasionally has prayed for healing. and the Lord has
answered from heaven in a dramatic way. What follows? There is the immediate
temptation to think. "God has answered My prayer. God is therefore pleased
with ME, otherwise He wouldn't have healed this person." The result is a
notching up of credit points, whether consciously or unconsciously, instead of
realising that all such spiritual gifts, when operated, are
"charismatic", in other words "gifts of grace," and as such
have no reference to the person's worthiness. Indeed. by the very meaning of the
word "grace". they come as "God's love to His undeserving
creatures."
Yes, our Lord was subject to the temptation of pride EVERY TIME HE PERFORMED A
MIRACLE. and it is my studied belief that this was an ongoing battle that He
had with Satan throughout His ministry. The miracles were necessary as hall-
marks of His person and ministry. "If you cannot believe my
words, then at least believe Me for the works' sake" He said
on one occasion. Satan was continually at hand to try to make Him fall into the
temptation of pride. And the greater the success of His mission, the greater
became the temptation. The ladder of success is attended by ever greater
possibilities of falling, the higher one climbs.
Now we can return to the scenes of our Lord's miracles, and assess His remarks
once again. Immediately the healing has occurred, He strictly charges the
person not to say anything. He doesn't expect the person to keep the command,
but this isn't the important thing TO HIM. The immediacy of His charge relates
rather to the deflection of the temptation to pride that afflicts Him. Knowing
how strong the temptation is, He deals it a death-blow at its inception. rather
than allowing it the slightest foot-hold of entrance into His being.
In other words, in all these examples, we are witnessing our Lord's continual
struggle against sin. Some people say that our Lord was "not able to
sin." But this is not true. Rather should it be said that He was
"able not to sin." As the author of Hebrews tells us, "Though
He were a Son. yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered."
Truly "He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without
sin." (Hebrews 5:8 &
This I believe to be the reason why our Lord so frequently told those He healed
to be quiet, even to say so with great force. It immediately deflected
attention away from Himself and saved Him from the terrors of pride. Satan was
at all times ready to afflict Him with this greatest of all problems. It was
the cause of Satan's own downfall in the heavenly regions in the beginning. We
read in Ezekiel 28 that he was created perfect in all his ways until iniquity
was found in him. How did this come about? "Your heart was
lifted up because of your beauty. and you have corrupted your wisdom by reason
of your brightness," declared the Lord. (Ezek.28:17) "For
you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the
sides of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like
the Host High." said the Lord through Isaiah. (14:13)
In absolute contrast, the Lord Jesus was already ONE WITH HIS FATHER in heaven,
but as Paul tells us in Philippians 2, He left the heavenly regions to "become
of no reputation, to take upon Himself the form of a servant, to humble
Himself, and be obedient to death, even the death of a cross."
Let us worship Him because of this. Let us realise the extent of the struggle
He had against the sin of pride throughout His three years of ministry and see
His true greatness emerging against the background of a multiplicity of
miracles.
Once, many years ago, I asked the Lord for the gift of healing, because I saw
it as a useful tool in persuading people to believe in God. I was denied that
gift. The servant of the Lord who ministered to me said that I should read John
15. "Abide in the Vine." I was unhappy with
this decision, even though I had to accept it. But now, many years later, I
thank the Lord for His decision. I can see in retrospect that it would have been
the greatest single factor to bring about my downfall. Because God is caring
and doesn't want His children destroyed by pride, He withholds power if He
knows that it will destroy the one who holds it. I give this as a personal word
of testimony. I do not suggest that the gift of healing should NEVER be given.
Some men may be able to handle it without fear of pride. But in my case, the
Lord saw otherwise.
Here is the end of the matter. I have tried to show how great was the ministry
of our Lord in respect of His handling of miraculous power. The understanding
here revealed, has been granted to me quite suddenly, by the help of one of my
daughters as she studied with me, and I want to thank her, as also the Lord
Himself for His kindness to us both.