The Lord Jesus
Left the glory and love of the
     Father’s presence
To come to earth to be …
Abused, ridiculed, beaten,
Mocked, whipped, humiliated,
     crucified.
Wonderful love!

He who did no sin,
Who knew no sin,
Who hated sin because He was holy,
Willingly became sin for us
And bore our sins.
Wonderful love!

He who had been in the bosom of the
     Father,
Who was one with the Father,
Who always did the will of the
     Father,
Who had loved and been loved by the
     Father through all eternity,
Was forsaken by God in order to bear
     the judgment for our sins.
Wonderful love!
Infinitely wonderful love!

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5-8).

        In order that the mind of Christ may be formed in us, the apostle in this passage presents Christ before us as our perfect Pattern. We have a touching presentation of the lowliness of mind that was expressed in Him in His marvelous journey from Godhead glory to the cross of shame. Let us note that the force of the passage is to present, not simply the downward path He took, but the lowly mind that marked Him in taking the path.

        First, Christ is presented as “being in the form of God.” No man could pretend to describe the form of One “whom no man has seen nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:16); nevertheless we are told what was the mind of Christ while yet in the form of God. His mind was so set upon serving others in love that He thought not of Himself and His reputation, but “made Himself of no reputation,” and laid aside the outward form of God—though never ceasing to be God.

        Second, He exhibits the lowly mind by taking the form of a servant. Not only does He serve, but He assumes the form that is proper to a servant.

        Third, still further does He express the lowly mind by the particular “form of a servant” that He assumed. The angels are servants, but He passed the angels by. He “was made a little lower than the angels” (Heb. 2:9) and took His place in the likeness of men. He passed by the higher form of servant to take the lower. He was made in the likeness of men, a word that surely implies manhood in its full constitution—spirit, soul, and body. However, let it be remembered that His was not manhood in its fallen condition nor even with the capability of sinning (2 Cor. 5:21; John 5:19,30).

        Fourth, still further is the lowly mind expressed in Christ, for when found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself. He did not take occasion by “being found in fashion as a man” to exalt Himself among men according to the natural thought of His brethren who said, “If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world” (John 7:3,4), but He humbled Himself. He did not claim His rights as a man.

        Fifth, yet further He expressed the lowly mind by becoming “obedient.” He might have become a man and commanded, but He takes the place of obedience. This implies the laying aside of individual will to do the will of another.

        Sixth, then again the lowly mind is seen by the measure of His obedience, for He was “obedient unto death.” This was more than obedience. In obedience He gave up His will; in death He gave up His life.

        Seventh, finally His lowly mind is expressed in the death that He died. There are many forms of death, but of all the deaths that man can die, He died the most ignominious of deaths—“the death of the cross.” This was more than an ordinary death, for while in going to death a man gives up his life, in going to the death of the cross a man gives up, not only his life, but his reputation before men. Thus it was with the Lord. In going to the death of the cross, such was His lowly mind—so truly did He ignore self—that He gave up His reputation before men and “was numbered with the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12).

        Let it be impressed upon our souls once again that the purpose of this wonderful passage is to set forth the pattern that Christ Himself has given for us to follow.

        (From Scripture Truth, 1930.)

I desire to bring before you the way in which the Lord draws our hearts to Himself. I do not speak of how the conscience is set at rest. I trust all of my readers are at rest in the conscience, through the work of Christ, as to all questions of sin and judgment. But it is possible to know the work of the Lord and greatly rejoice in it and yet never really to have experienced His company. Let us look at some Scriptures that show how the Lord values our company, our affections, our love.

Simon Peter

        In Peter (Luke 5:4-11) we get the way the soul is first set at ease in the company of the Lord. If a poor man received a great benefit from a nobleman, he would better enjoy his gift than his company. This feeling needs to be removed. We may appreciate the grace of the Lord in having paid our debts, while little knowing His love. There is a difference between grace and love. We can enjoy grace a great way off, but to enjoy love there must be nearness; we must be in the company of the one who loves us. When the Lord came from heaven, He did not come into the midst of angels but of men in order to find companions for eternal glory. Peter had already known the Lord, but now it dawned on him who the One was whom he knew. He learned by the miraculous draught of fishes that Christ was the Lord of earth and heaven, who could command the fish to come into his net. When we apprehend in some measure the Person of the Lord, we wonder that He should want to bring such as we are into His own company. Peter says, “Depart from me,” for he felt that he was a sinner; yet he was attracted to Him all the while. Notwithstanding our sense of disparity, He sets us at ease in His presence. He says, “Fear not.” Christ would not only have us to believe what He has done for us on the cross, but He would take away every suggestion of fear and make us at home in His company. He has been here with us and we shall be with Him for ever, but do we enjoy His company now?

Mary and Martha

        In chapter 5 the Lord had come down in grace to minister to man, and Peter was drawn into His company. In Luke 10:38 we have an advance. The time was come that the Lord should be received up; thus we find Him here on His way to suffer. “He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). “As they went, He entered into a certain village” (10:38). After the Mount of Transfiguration, where Moses and Elias spoke to Christ of His decease, He was on His way to death. On the way “Martha received Him into her house.” She had not the sense of the path the Lord was taking, that He was not staying in this world. So she invited Him into her house and sought to entertain Him with her things. She did not understand what was before the Lord at this time and she was cumbered about much serving, making the Lord her guest. Mary was, so to speak, the Lord’s guest, and He was entertaining her with His things. No doubt Martha served Him to the best of her ability with her house, her means, her time, her labor. Mary was in the company of the Lord. Martha wanted to bring the Lord to her side of things. Mary went to the Lord’s side. Do we know a little of that? He has this object in bringing us into His company, to lead us to His side of things. The Lord did use what was Peter’s—his boat—but this is more. He wants to bring us to the path that Mary chose. Martha blamed her for idleness. The Lord says, “Mary has chosen that good part.” What is the good part? It is the Lord’s things. It cannot be taken away. We might be using our wealth for the Lord, and it might all be taken away; but if I get to His side of things and let Him open that out to me so that I become His guest, and He entertains me with His things, it is a good part that cannot be taken away.

Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Judas

        Turn now to John 12:1-8, and you will find a yet further advance. The Lord has reached Jerusalem and His circumstances are greatly altered. The Lord’s heart was most gratified to turn aside to Bethany and to find those who would appreciate Him. There will be a moment in the history of the earth when the rejected One will know a people who will gladly receive and welcome Him. This is foreshadowed here in Martha. Her brother Lazarus, who had recently been raised to life again by the Lord, is also there. He represents the nation of Israel that will be brought back again to life in this world. It will be a wonderful thing when the remnant of Israel receives Him and the nation is brought back as from death. Judas, as one who had companied with the Lord, represents apostate Christendom, those who have had to do with Christianity and its blessings and yet who will turn and give up Christianity and apostatize from Christ. Judas was about to sell Christ; he had not the smallest appreciation of Him. Only think how people may have all the love and grace of Christ put before them, and yet not appreciate Him. They may do good to men, and yet not have one atom of appreciation of Christ. How very much even Christians are tainted with this spirit of the world!

        But finally we have in Mary one who already in spirit had gone to the Lord’s side of things. She stands out beautifully and represents the affections of the true Church. She has a sense, no doubt taught of God, that Christ is going out of the world. The most precious thing she has she pours out on Him for His burial. Christ interpreted it so. I do not say she fully understood the meaning of her act; but a kind of instinct in her apprehended the danger that awaited Him, and she appreciated Him the more. But the Lord understands and puts the full meaning on it:“Against the day of My burying has she kept this.” If drawn into His company, where do our affections go? Are we free from the spirit of the world that can have all the grace of Christ before it, and yet withhold from Him? May the Lord give us to understand how He lays hold of our hearts to draw us into His company, and to lead us outside this world to where He has gone!

Mary Magdalene

        In John 20:14-18 the Lord has come out of death in resurrection. In Mary Magdalene we have one greatly attached to Him. He had cast out from her seven demons, and she, along with other women, “ministered unto Him of their substance” (Luke 8:2,3). Now she seeks Him in death, but in very deep affection. She thinks she has lost Him. When we have lost a friend, we find out how much we love him. Mary’s affections for Him make her inconsolable; the one thing she wants is Himself. Would to God we had more of such affection for the Lord! He must be first in His love drawing forth ours; we often want to put our love first. George Herbert puts it thus:“As when the heart says (sighing to be approved), Oh, could I love! and stops; God writes—Loved.”

        Do not say, “Oh, could I love!” Be occupied with His love and love because He loves (1 John 4:19). Mary Magdalene loved Him and she was the one to whom the Lord first appeared. He said unto her, “Mary.” She is a figure of the Church learning Him in resurrection. At first she thought she had got Him back here again; she sprang forward as much as to say, “I have got Him back.” “No,” says the Lord, “touch Me not.” He is conducting her out of the place of the Jewish remnant into the place of the Church. “I ascend unto My Father, and your Father, and to My God, and your God.” He is going to re-enter, as a man, that scene of holy love where He was before. “Go and tell My brethren”—they were to be with Him where He is. He brings us to His position as sons before the Father, into the affections that He knows with the Father. Surely that is deep and blessed intimacy! If you have been conducted along this line, if you know the Lord now in resurrection and in ascension, you will be prepared for the next thing to take place—His coming again.

The Bride of Christ

        Turn now to Revelation 22:16-20. Here, at the close of the book, the person of the Lord shines out. Throughout the book He has been revealed in many and various characters, as Jehovah, the First and the Last, the One clad in a priestly garment, the Lamb, and others. Spiritual perceptions may say in many cases, “I see the Lord in these varied characters”; but when we come to this last chapter, all at once the sweet words break in, “I Jesus.” It is as when the disciples were in the storm. “They were afraid.” But He said unto them, “It is I, be not afraid. Then they willingly received Him into the ship” (John 6:20,21). It is the Person of the Lord there brought out. So here, at the close of the book, “I, Jesus … am the Root and the Offspring of David.” That is what He is for the earth:the Sun of righteousness will arise and the remnant will receive and know the Lord.

        “The bright and Morning Star” is a heavenly Christ, the portion of the Church. She belongs to Christ while He is in heaven and she knows Him there. The Jews will not know Him till He comes back to earth. His relationship will be renewed with them on earth. The Church belongs to heaven, associated with a heavenly Christ, but her light—and a heavenly Christ is her light—will be seen on earth. It is the privilege of the Church here to respond for both the earth and the heavens. “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come.” All the administration of heavenly glory to the earth will be by the Bride. The Church must go into heavenly glory before the earth can get its blessing.

        “I Jesus.” Do you say, “I know Him”? You may not understand all connected with His person; but can you say, “I know Him”? Immediately “the Spirit and the Bride say, Come.” If I know what it is to be found in the company of Christ, to have tasted His love in the smallest way, I must surely know a little what it is to desire His coming. I do not doubt there are many hindrances; but the Lord is expressing to us His affection in the words, “I come quickly,” and He counts on a response from His Church. The Spirit utters it in the Bride, “Come, Lord Jesus.” The Lord is bringing His own person before His beloved saints, conducting them to intimacy with Himself. The response will be, “Come!” It does not hinder service, for we shall surely all the more invite thirsty souls. We shall say, “Let him who is athirst, Come.” May the Lord lead our hearts more into full communion with Himself, for His name’s sake!

In this passage we find the One who was presenting all the value and preciousness of that work that was yet to be accomplished in His own holy Person down here, and who could attract by His grace a poor, wretched, miserable creature into the one place where she was least likely to be welcome. There was not one spot where this woman could expect to find so little interest and appreciation as in the house of Simon the Pharisee, and there was no person on this earth that was less likely to be tolerated in such a place than this woman of the city.

        Observe the contrast between Simon and the woman. The Pharisee probably thought very highly of his own goodness, and, no doubt, wanted to gain some credit for himself by asking the Lord into his house. At the same time, this poor woman, owning herself as a miserable and brokenhearted creature, had Christ filling her thoughts. What was it, beloved, that first of all drew her in there? She did not know the forgiveness of sins—she did not bring that in, for as yet she did not possess it. But what did she bring in? only a broken heart. And let me assure you of this one thing, a broken heart is the very condition that gets the knowledge of the blessedness of the Person of Christ. It was the misery of man that brought Christ here.

        It is a wonderful thing to think of it, and yet it is true of us all, saints as well as sinners, that in our joys we were far away from Him, but in our miseries He came near to us. You will find it was nearly always a scene of sorrow and misery that was the occasion for His displaying the grace of His Person down here in this world. I have often thought that it was in the Lord that that word found its fullest and most blessed verification, “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting” (Eccl. 7:2). Was it not to the house of mourning that He came? What is this world but a great scene of misery? It was that which attracted Him, and He made known in it all the grace of His Father and all the love of His heart. It was that which brought this woman in to Him—the grace that shone in His blessed Person. And now see the effect of it. The first thing is that she must get where He is. That is always the effect of grace; the desire to know Christ is not natural to any of us.

        There is a possibility of our attempting to work up feelings of love and affection for Christ in our hearts by our own efforts. I feel increasingly the need of being watchful as to this. That which Christ delights to receive from us is the affection of the new man that is called out and satisfied by His own Person. It is not a matter of working up feelings in our hearts for Christ; instead it is the objective presentation to faith of the Person of Christ which is the spring of the subjective affection of the new man; and therefore you find that you have desires after Christ and long to know Christ just in proportion as He is objectively before your soul. If He is the One before your soul, you will long to be with Him; but it is all formed by Him, and gratified by Him, and therefore Christ Himself becomes the spring and maintainer of the affections of the new man.

        It was grace that drew this poor woman in. What is so beautiful in it is to see how she faced all the difficulties; all that stood in her way in Simon’s house were never once thought of. Oh, the power of having One who is above all the difficulties simply before you! You never then think of difficulties. Mary Magdalene, in John 20, was the same way; she was so intent upon finding Him that nothing deterred her—nothing would keep her away.

        May the Lord, by His grace, grant that we may know what has been called the “expulsive power of a new affection,” even that blessed Person of Christ in the soul. It is that alone which drives all other things out.