MARCH 31.
WHEN he says, " Arise, let us go hence," he shows his readiness to suffer. " I will not wait for the enemy ; I will go and meet him. I will go to the place where Judas will look for me. I will go to the garden of Gethsemane, where I am to agonize, and from thence to Calvary, where I am to die. I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished." We always see in him this disposition, a proof that he was not compelled to engage ; that he did not undertake the case from ignorance; that he did not repent of his work, even in the sight of enduring all its expensiveness of woe. he loved us, and gave himself for us.
Yet this alacrity was not rashness, but obedience : " As the Father gave me commandment." Though in his high character he had the disposal of himself, in his human nature, and in his mediatorial office, he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He felt no inconsistency in this, and why should we? "No man taketh my life from me. I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." So mistaken should we be in supposing that the Father was less disposed to save us than the Son, or that his love was purchased by that death which was really the effect of it, and designed to be the medium through which it should operate. Herein God had commended his love towards us. in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And therefore did the Father love him, because he laid down his life that he might take it again ; and for the suffering of death, he crowned him with glory and honor.
Though there was something here peculiar in our Saviour's obedience, there is something also exemplary in it. He did not expose himself before his hour was come, but cheerfully submitted to the divine will when it was come. So we are not to turn aside in search of trials, but to take up our cross when it is fairly in our way. We are not to be impatient to suffer, but when we are called to it, the call should sustain us and bear us through, for God is with us.
And this obedience resulted from love: " I love the Father. I delight," said he, "to do thy will ; yea, thy law is within my heart. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." His people, in their measure and degree, can say the same. As obedience is the best evidence of love, so love is the best spring of obedience. It is love that makes it pleasant to ourselves. It is love that makes it acceptable to God. With him nothing can be a substitute for it. Indeed, we ourselves, in the conduct of our fellow-creatures towards us, judge, not by the bulk of the action, but the disposition from which it proceeds. The estimate is taken, not from the service, but the principle; not from what is given, but from what is implied. The smallest donation is welcomed as a token of cordial regard; while, like God, we abhor " the sacrifice where not the heart is found."
Jesus would have this known, not to his disciples only, but to others, and to all: " But that the world may know that I love the Father ; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence." And the world ought to know it; they are deeply concerned in it. and in due time they will know it. At present a very large majority of mankind have never heard of his name, or of his salvation. But his cause is spreading. The Scriptures are entering all languages. Missionaries are visiting all climes. The church is praying that his word may have free course and be glorified. And God has said, "It is a light thin; that thou shouldest be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel ; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth." It must therefore by and by be said, without a figure, " Behold, the world is gone away after him."
But blessed are our eyes, for they see, and our ears, for they hear. We already know these things. But how do we know them? Do we feel as well as understand them? Are we as cold in our affections as we are clear in our convictions? Shall we be found in the number of those who behold and wonder and perish? Or, filled with admiration and gratitude, and confidence and zeal, beholding as in a glass his glory, are we changing into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord'?
RETURN
TO REV. WILLIAM JAY'S HOMEPAGE
RETURN
TO REV. THOMAS BOSTON'S HOMEPAGE
