A touching story is told of the late Sir Frederick Treeves, the eminent surgeon, who operated on King Edward VII, when he was stricken down just before the date of his coronation. He was travelling in Syria, when an accident occurred on the railway. Stretched out before him lay a man badly injured internally. Sir Frederick was very agitated and distressed, as he exclaimed, “If only I had my instruments with me, I could have saved that man’s life.” What a poignant situation!
And cannot this find its counterpart in divine things. God needs instruments in His work. “How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?” (Rom. 10:14-15). How gracious of God, who could do without anyone of us, to use instruments.
And all this is based upon the great Instrument God used, even our Lord Jesus Christ, for Romans 10:15, continues, “As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of THEM that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.” Though Romans 10:15 speaks of “the feet of THEM,” Isaiah 52:7, from which the quotation is made speaks of “the feet of HIM.” “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of HIM that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says to Zion, Thy God reigns.” “Behold upon the mountains the feet of HIM that brings good tidings, that publishes peace!” (Nah. 1:15).
It was the prophet Isaiah himself who God used to write the striking prophecy of the coming of the Lord as God’s great Instrument for bringing salvation to men, and heralding it forth. It was Isaiah, who heard God’s challenge, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” It was Isaiah who responded, “Here am I; send ME” (Isa. 6:8).
What a privilege to be sent by the Lord on His errands and with His message, it may be to distant China or India or Africa or South America, or the far-off islands of the seas, or it may be to your next door neighbour, the people that live in your street or town, or in the villages within reach of a humble pushbike, and the ability to purchase and scatter a few tracts.
May we not all be fired by the example of THE GREAT INSTRUMENT, our Lord Jesus Christ? True it is that He was more than an Instrument. He was not a channel only. He was the Source. He was not a Man merely. He was God.
So the opening of John’s Gospel tells us in simple yet deeply profound words:“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, … and the Word was made flesh” (John 1:1, 14). Yet the gospel of Mark presents Him as the Sent One, Servant of Jehovah, the great Instrument of God’s will. Though in “the form of God” He took “the form of a servant” (literally a bondslave). Truly, a mystery no creature can ever understand.
“No man knows the Son, but the Father” (Matt. 11:27). His service was indeed unique. He alone could provide salvation by dying on the cross. That service He alone could and did render.
But it is left to us to be His instruments. What an honour! Shall we through sloth miss this wondrous distinction?
We all know how exceedingly careful the surgeon is to have clean instruments. They are boiled in antiseptic fluid, and treated with the greatest care. The surgeon must have clean instruments. So it is in God’s work. We read, “If a man therefore purge himself from these (vessels to dishonour), he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified, and MEET FOR THE MASTER’S USE, and prepared to every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21). “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord” (Isa. 52:11).
Scripture abounds in instances of how God prepares His servants to serve Him. Abraham walking through the land of promise, yet a stranger and a pilgrim. Joseph for years in prison and bondage to fit him to be God’s servant in the land of Egypt. Moses in obscurity for forty years at the backside of the desert to fit him to be the leader of God’s people through the awful desert of Sinai.
When Saul said to David, “Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth;” David replied, “Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock; and I went after him, and delivered it out of his mouth; and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him and slew him” (1 Sam. 17:33-35). David could point to secret training in view of public opportunity.
Even the world knows something of this, not spiritually of course, but in natural things. The Rt. Honourable Winston Churchill wrote, “Would you rise in the world? You must work while others amuse themselves. Are you desirous of a reputation for courage? You must risk your life. Would you be strong morally or physically? You must resist temptations. All this is paying in advance; that is prospective finance. Observe the other side of the picture; the bad things are paid for afterwards.” In his own life these aims and maxims are abundantly exemplified. But the Christian does not ask, Would you rise in the world? but, would you be God’s instrument? It means hard work whilst others play, presenting your body a living sacrifice, something that costs and hurts, a sacrifice acceptable to God, and which indeed is only reasonable in view of His abounding mercies to us, chiefly in the sending of the great Instrument of His will into this world, procuring us salvation and divine life, without which every other mercy would be meaningless.
Our great Exemplar not only risked His life, but came on purpose to die, a death apart by itself in its unique character and unparalleled sufferings. “This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and BLOOD” (1 John 5:6). Paul risked his life, and lost it and yet found it. “He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for My sake shall FIND it” (Matt. 10:39).
God’s call is urgent. The cry still sounds forth, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for US?” May our answer be like Isaiah’s, “Here am I, send ME.” If God sends, all is well.