Our Glorified Leader

‘He is gone — and we remain
In this world of sin and pain;
In the void which He has left,
On this earth of Him bereft.
‘We have still his work to do;
We can still his path pursue;
Seek Him both in friend and foe,
In ourselves his image show.”’
STANLEY,

ISAIAH lv. 4.)

HERE are things which money cannot buy. It were absurd to bring gold or silver, or any such equivalent for them; they are without price. They therefore elude the rich, who have acquired the habit of supposing that money is the only medium ale of exchange, and who find it hard to think of wealth other than that which passes current in the market; whilst they are within the reach of those who have no money, but who are sorely athirst. What things these are will appear presently. Suffice it only to say that they are contained in a Person, and that it is impossible to have them unless we enter into living union with Him.

It was highly necessary that God should call the attention of the Jewish people to these unpurchasable possessions. Their life in Babylon had become so luxurious.. They had so suddenly acquired wealth; they had so easily bartered their spiritual prerogative, as the priests of men, for mercenary consideration, that there was every danger of their losing sight of the great facts of the spiritual world. It was needful, therefore, for them to be reminded that the immortal thirst of the soul cannot be quenched by waters whose source is in the depth of the earth, though the wells be deep as Sychar’s; and that its hunger cannot be satisfied with the provision beneath which the tables of a Dives groan. True satisfaction — that which is really bread, the fatness that delights the soul — can only be obtained where the coins of this world do not pass current; in fellowship with Him whose voice is ever speaking in the marts of commerce, saying, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye! hearken unto Me! buy wine and milk! eat ye that which is good!”

These gifts of the spiritual world by which the soul lives are - given in covenant; each man must enter for himself into covenant-relationship with God. Yet, in the deepest sense, the covenant has been already made on the behalf of all faithful souls, by their Representative, who here looms out amid the mists of the far past in the unmistakable glory of the Son of Man.

Thus we have three clear issues before us: The Prince of — Life; the Everlasting Covenant; the Abundant Provision which is ours in Him.

I. THE PRINCE OF LiFE. — “Behold, I have given Him for a Leader and Commander to the people.”

(1) He was typified in David. The shepherd boy was God’s gift to Israel, to save his people from the anarchy into which Saul’s wilfulness had plunged them; to deliver the land from the incursions of the Philistines; and to lead them like a flock. God entered into a covenant with him to make him a house, and that his son should sit upon his throne, assured of the living presence of Jehovah, and of the certainty of an established throne for ever. These were the sure mercies of David, when God appointed him prince over his people. (2 Sam. vii. 8-17).

In each of these respects the Almighty entered into covenant with great David’s Greater Son. He has been constituted Prince. His name is made great. His throne shall be for ever. His kingdom shall be made sure. For a great. while to come his house shall stand. His name shall be continued as

: The Prince of Wife. 19!

long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in Him. All nations shall call Him happy (Psa. lxxii.). The type was spoilt by David’s infidelity and sin. The patterns of things in the heavens always bear the soil, the fret, and the tarnish of this world. But even though this was so, on God’s side there was no vacillation, no swerving from his purpose. His mercies were sure. Much more in the case of Jesus Christ, the eternal purpose cannot miscarry. There can be no failure upon his part to perform the conditions of the covenant; and God will not run back from his word.. He hath made with his Son a covenant which is ordered in all things and sure. It were easier to break the procession of day and night, than that one item of its provisions should be invalidated.

(2) This title ts applied to Christ after his resurrection. Four times only in the New Testament is Christ called Leader or Prince, and always in resurrection. In his sermon in the temple, Peter accuses the Jews of having killed ‘“‘the Prince of Life,” and immediately adds, “whom God raised from the dead” (Acts ili. 14, 15). Again, before the Sanhedrim, he affirms that “God exalted Him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour,” — that exaltation evidently referring to the Ascension from the depth of the grave to the right hand of power (Acts v. 31). In the Epistle to the Hebrews we are told that God hath made “the Leader of our salvation perfect through sufferings, and hath crowned Him with glory and honour” (Heb. ii. 9, 10). And yet again in the same Epistle we are told to look to Jesus, who has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God, as “the Author of faith” (Heb. xii. 2). However translated, whether by Author, Prince, Captain, or Leader, it is the same Greek word, and is applied to Christ as risen.

(3) The original meaning of the word is very interesting. Etymologically, it means the first of a file of men, and therefore their leader and commanding officer. This conception therefore is presented to our mind, that our Lord is the first of a long procession of souls whom He is leading up from the grave, with its darkness and corruption, through the steeps of air, past principalities and powers, to the very throne of God. He is the

First-born from the dead, and therefore Ruler of the kings of the earth. He first, by the resurrection from the dead, has obtained the right to proclaim light to the Gentiles.

If this thought of Christ being the first of a long procession is carried out, in respect to the passages mentioned above, it yields great results. He leads the dead out of death into life. There is a close analogy between the life and work of Joshua and of Jesus. After the death of Moses, God gave Joshua to be a witness to the people of truth and righteousness — to be their leader and commander. To make the analogy perfect, we may well suppose that Joshua first passed across the dried bed of the Jordan, hard by the little group of priests standing there, ark on shoulder, and that the long procession of Israel trod in his steps. Whether that were so or not, it is impossible to say. But this, at least, is true, that Christ has preceded us through the waters of Jordan, which always stand for death; and that He will hold them back until every one of the ransomed has passed “‘clean over Jordan.”

fe leads the vanguished into the victory of the heavenilies. In his exaltation as Man to the right hand of the throne, He opened a path to be trodden in after ages by a company which no man can number. Where He is, they are to be; as He has overcome, they are to overcome; as He is regnant over principality and power, they are to sit on his throne till their enemies are made the footstool of their feet.

He leads sufferers through suffering to the perfection, which is only possible as the effect of grievous pain, sanctified through the grace of the Holy Ghost. Son though He were, He learned obedience by the things that He suffered; and transformed suffering, showing that it was an alembic, a purifying furnace, a means of discipline, strength, and ennoblement — all of which have become the heritage of the suffering people of God. All who suffer meekly according to the will of God are following in the long procession which He headed.

Fe leads also the ranks of believers. In the eleventh chapter of the marvellous treatise already quoted we have a roll-call of the heroes of faith; but the writer takes care to tell us that not Abel, though he were the first in time, not Abraham, though first as progenitor, not Moses, though first in the marvels

wrought, but Jesus is the true file-leader of faith.

(4) These conclusions suggested by the New Testament are substantiated and confirmed by the expression used here. “Thou shalt call a nation that Thou knowest not.” To whom can this refer, save to the Gentiles, who were once far off? ‘Nations that knew not Thee, shall run unto Thee.” Of whom can this be true, save of that vast ingathering suggested to our Lord by

the Greeks who came to Him before He died, and concerning

whom He said, “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me”? These words are a direct address from the people of God to their directly-given Leader. Thankfully they remind Him that the Holy One of Israel has glorified Him. And when did our Lord receive honour and glory save when, for his obedience unto death, He received a name which is above every name, and in which every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess.

O Glorious Leader of faithful souls! who hast conducted so great an exodus from the grave and the dark domain of selfishness and sin, and from the realm of the transient and material to the unseen and eternal, the sinless and sorrowless world, we, who follow Thee, pray that nations who have not known Thee may run to Thee; that there may be a great gathering of the

peoples around Thy banner; and that many who are wasting

their energy for waters that cannot quench their thirst, and for bread that cannot satisfy their hunger, may follow Thee to the River of the Water of Life, and to the Tree of Life which is in

the midst of the Paradise of God!

God has given — wilt thou accept his gift? He gave his only-begotten Son, and with Him will freely give all things. Draw near and take; and let Him be for thy comfort, sustenance,

and salvation, world without end.

Il. THE EVERLASTING COVENANT. — Towards the close of

David’s life, he sang one brief strain concerning which he was

very sure that the Spirit of the Lord was speaking by him, and

that His word was upon his tongue. He seems to have had a

glimpse of the lost opportunities of his life. He says sadly, N that one who rules over men righteously would be like sunrise, as a cloudless dawn, as the tender grass, the joint product of rain and sun. That was what his reign might have been, but the fair ideal had never been realized. He had not always ruled in the fear of God. He had committed iniquity, for which he had been chastened by the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men (2 Sam. vii. 14, 15; 2 Sam. xxiii. 3).

He had been forgiven; but the natural consequences had remained. His house had not been so with God. Incest, murder, hatred, had rent it; and his last words make mention of the ungodly who could not be taken unless the hand were armed with sword and spear. Adonijah, Joab, Shimei, and others, were as thorns in the side of the aged king. But in spite of all he knew that God’s covenant with himself was sure. He had said, “My mercy shall not depart, as I took it from Saul whom I put away before thee.” In his own words, the “covenant was ordered in all things and sure.”

A similar covenant has been enacted between the Father and the Son as the Representative of the redeemed. God will never be unfaithful to its provisions. The work of the Cross has been definitely accepted on our behalf. The precious Blood has been accounted a sufficient atonement. The obedience and death of Jesus Christ are enough. Those that believe in Him shall never perish. God’s mercies to us in Christ are sure. But we must definitely enter into that covenant for ourselves. Note the emphasis. Listen! come! hear! and — I will make an everlasting covenant with you.

Men talk much in the present day of the solidarity of the race; and are accustomed to group men in one great family, to the obscuring of the equally true doctrine of individualism. We must not allow these two to collide. Each is necessary to the true development of the soul. It is true that all who repent and believe are included in the provisions of the eternal covenant — entered into in the council-chamber of eternity; but it is equally true there is a personal transaction between God and each soul, by virtue of which it enters into a relationship with God, which neither life nor death, things present nor things to come, can violate or interrupt.

III. THE ABUNDANT PROVISION. — It is described under several terms — waters, wine, milk, satisfying bread, the good, fatness. We are invited to come for water, and lo! we find a feast prepared at which we sit to eat. All this reminds us of words in the Epistles, the wealth of which surpasses thought. “Blest with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.” “All things are yours.” “His Divine power hath given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.”

It is too much our habit to pray as though by our entreaty we should obtain for ourselves what we need for life or service. We cry, “Go to! I will pray day and night for this or the other grace; I will buy this power by tears and sighs and many prayers.” Oh that we could realize that the table is spread, that there is enough for us, that our name lies between the knife and fork, that the doors stand open, and that we have only to take! Everything that the apostles had is ours. All that God can give is given. All that the soul wants is ready to hand. We have not to ascend into heaven to bring down the grace of God; or to descend into any depth to bring it up. It is nigh, it is here. Eat, O beloved, eat and drink abundantly; there can be no stint for those whom God calls as his guests to sit at the table of his Son. We talk as though the feast were at the end of this dispensation; but the oxen and fatlings are already killed, and all things are now ready. Come

e!

4 Without money, and without price. And is it really so? Is there indeed nothing to pay? Not after men’s usage. We buy by confessions of our need; by bringing our emptiness and want; by being willing to be the pensioners on the bounty of God. To give up yourself, to renounce all faith in prayers and tears and entreaties, to be willing to take as a little child from the open hand of God — this is the purchase money for the priceless wealth of heaven.

Let it never be forgotten that the rich provisions of God’s grace can only be enjoyed by those who follow their Leader, Christ, and obey his commands. This Captain of ours demands absolute obedience. If He says, “Come!” we must come, whatever we leave. If He says, “Go!” we must go, into whatever difficulty we plunge, or whatever peril we incur. If He says, “Do this!” there is no appeal. Run to Him, abide in Him, sit with Him in the heavenlies, obey Him! Take Him as God’s best gift; give Him the glory of thy homage as the Father has given Him the glory of his own bright home. So shalt thou drink wine and milk, and eat bread that satisfies, and delight thyself in the fatness of his holy temple.

Thus earth may partake somewhat of the blessedness of that eternal world, where it is said that “they follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth; and they hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither does the sun strike on them, nor any heat.” In fact, the whole Church drinks of the same river, and upon the same conditions. In each world the flock must follow the lead of Christ. In each world they drink of the river of the water of life, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb; the one near its source, the other in the lowlands of this world.