(Revised notes of an address)
We have been engaged with the unsearchable riches of Him who is seated at God's right hand in heaven, who is the centre of the Father's counsels, and who will soon be displayed in His glory. This place of glory has been given to the Son of God because of the Father's great love for Him, and because of all that the Son was and wrought for His will and pleasure when here on earth. Before the Son became Man the Holy Spirit, through the prophets, spake of His glory, not only recording His searchable riches as Israel's Messiah, but also His divine glories. Do we not learn of these from the prophet Isaiah when he writes, " His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace"? When we come to the New Testament, how wonderful are the peculiar displays of the glories of Jesus in such chapters as John 1, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1 and Revelation 1. All these have been written by the Holy Spirit to engage our minds and hearts with Christ, so that we might be attracted to the Person of Jesus.
When the Lord Jesus came into the world there was nothing outwardly attractive to draw men to Him. His coming was not heralded by the great of this world, nor was He received by them. But God provided heavenly messengers to announce His coming, and chose the shepherds to welcome the heavenly stranger. In creation there was the witness of the Star, which brought the Magi from the East, with their gifts, to the feet of Jesus. Among the religious leaders of Israel none were found to render homage to the Son of God come into this world.
Yet God had a remnant from among His people Israel that valued His word, and sought the fulfilment of His promises in Christ. Among such were Simeon and Anna, who were attracted to the Babe Jesus. Simeon had been given a revelation by the Spirit of God concerning Christ, and how his heart must have rejoiced as he took the holy Babe into his arms, and said "Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." The aged Anna came into the temple at the instant of this wonderful scene, viewing the Salvation of God in the arms of Simeon, and she "Spake of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." How blessedly absorbed were the thoughts of these two godly saints with the attractiveness of the Christ of God!
Zacharias and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, as filled with the Holy Spirit had been privileged to speak of Jesus, before He came into the world, and their son John, according to the divine promise, was "filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb." How faithfully John witnessed to the glory of the Person of Jesus and to the greatness of the work He had come to do. The Lord bore witness to the faithfulness of John, speaking of him as "a burning and a shining lamp" (John 5:35). The secret of John's devoted and powerful testimony to Jesus lay in the attraction of Jesus for his heart; he knew Him as the Son of God, and his heart was stirred by the beauty and perfections of the Lamb of God.
What a sense of the greatness of Jesus possessed John's heart when he said, "This was He of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for He was before me," and "Whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose." And how great must have been the mission of Christ in the vision of John when he uttered the words, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." It was because John Baptist had been taught of God that he had come to appreciate the attractiveness of Christ. The mother of John was related naturally to Mary the mother of Jesus, and there seems to have been some intimacy between them at the time the children were born; but whatever knowledge John had of Jesus in this way, he twice over says, "I knew Him not." He may have known Him after the flesh, but he did not know Him thus in the greatness and attractiveness of His Person.
It was because he heard the voice of God speaking to him of Jesus that John knew who Jesus was. God had said to him, "Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." John perceived that only a divine Person could baptize with the Holy Spirit, and only on the Son of God could the Spirit descend and abide in this way.
How deep were the impressions made on the heart of John by this divine revelation! for looking upon Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" John is no longer engaged in testifying to the greatness of the Person and the work of Jesus, but his heart is overflowing in adoration as he gazes on the glorious Person of the Son of God. Whether he meant others to hear him or not, the effect of his words was to send two of his disciples after Jesus. The One who had attracted the heart of John now attracts his two disciples. Does not this show the powerful effect of a witness that thinks only of Jesus? John had come to speak of Jesus, and the success of his work is evinced in detaching disciples from himself and attaching them to Jesus. Like John Baptist, our witness for Jesus will be the more efficacious when our words express the deep feelings of a heart engaged and absorbed with Him.
In the sixth chapter of John the Lord Jesus spoke wonderful words, presenting Himself as the Bread of God, the Bread of life and the Living Bread; the One who satisfies and delights the heart of God, and who is the source and sustenance of life for those who believe in Him. But life, eternal life, could only be secured for men and communicated to them through the death of the Lord Jesus. They must eat His flesh and drink His blood, appropriating His death to have life in their souls. Those who in faith accept the death of Christ receive eternal life, and will be raised up in the last day. The mention of His death turned from Him many of His professed disciples. They would gladly have a living Christ as their king, One with power to deliver them from the Roman yoke, and to supply them with bread in plenty and with every other temporal need; but they did not want a dead Christ. They were not troubled about their spiritual needs, only with what was material.
It was at this juncture that the Lord challenged the twelve with the words, "Will ye also go away?" Were they only following Him because of present advantage? How precious to the heart of the Lord must have been the response of Simon Peter: "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." Peter did not say, Lord, where shall we go, but "Lord, to whom shall we go?" The Lord Himself, in all His attractiveness, filled Peter's vision, and His words, words of eternal life held his heart. Others might value the loaves and fishes, but the words of eternal life, infinite in spiritual value, were highly esteemed by Simon Peter. Peter was learning in the company of His Lord that His words were the expression of Himself, and they were binding him indissolubly to his heavenly Master.
Mary of Bethany was another whom the Lord attracted to Himself. Like Peter, she was drawn by His words, and in delight she had sat at His feet hearing His word. When her brother Lazarus was sick, her thoughts turned at once to Jesus, and when he died, she said, "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." In her sorrow she learned the sympathy of Jesus, and at the grave of Lazarus she saw His tears and heard His voice of mighty power calling the dead to life. In John xii, she is again at the feet of Jesus, adoring Him whom she had learned as The Resurrection and The Life. As she anoints His feet with her costly ointment, and wipes His feet with her hair, she manifests to all how attractive Jesus has made Himself to her. Nothing is too valuable to lavish on the adorable Son of God: and all her glory must be brought to His feet.
The apostle John, who was doubtless one of the two disciples who followed Jesus when John Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" had learned much of Jesus since that day when he first abode with Him. How attractive Jesus became to John! He knew the delight of lying in His bosom, and there learned the secrets of His heart. The more John became acquainted with Jesus the greater became the sense of the greatness and glory of His Person, and the more attractive He became to him. The intimacy of His bosom will not detract from the glory of His Person; indeed, the more intimate we become with Him, the greater will be our apprehension of His greatness, and the more freely will our worship flow in adoration and praise. It was John, who knew Jesus so well, who was enabled to write, "We have contemplated His glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father," and again "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." The divine glory of Jesus, and the deep affections of His heart, attracted and held the heart of John to Jesus.
Mary of Magdala, like Mary of Bethany, was deeply devoted to Jesus. He was so attractive to her that she sought Him even in His death. She had been the subject of His work and grace and since that day had ministered to Him. He was indispensable to her, and in life and death He was the object of her heart. No one but Jesus could satisfy the longings of her heart. It was HIM she sought, and Him only. Is not this made plain when answering Jesus, thinking Him to be the gardener, she said, "Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away."
John Baptist had been attracted to Jesus by the greatness of Christ's Person as the Son of God, and the greatness of His mission as The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world; Peter had been drawn to Jesus by the words of eternal life; Mary of Bethany had witnessed the display of His divine power, and the apostle John knew His love as lying in His bosom. Mary Magdalene was the subject of His mercy and grace, and he became the object of her life. Has Jesus made Himself attractive to us? Only as we are attracted to Him can we rightly represent Him in this world, and be for His will and for the glory of His God and Father.