Give me the glory of Lazarus.
A friend of Christ Jesus, its said.
Of whom we know not the slightest.
But that Christ raised Him up from the dead.
-
Because of the season, and the circumstances surrounding his death – no burial service to speak of had been arranged.
Right after he was found, a few of us found a plot of ground – more than 6’ feet away from any other graves (according to the custom for suicides) – and buried him.
We all wept.
We all wondered.
We all grieved.
We all agonized.
We all questioned. A thousand things.
Some things would become clearer in time.
But by no means all.
Now, it was two months later.
So much had happened in the meantime.
Jesus had appeared to us over and over.
At first, we couldn’t believe it.
Now, we can’t doubt it.
And not just us. There are hundreds more that have seen Him.
And then – Pentecost.
What a day!
What a transformation.
Everything was – IS – so different now.
Each of us had begun to make plans for what to do next.
Some, for where to go next.
Though in truth, until the persecution began to ratchet up a little while later, we barely thought of anything other than just staying in Jerusalem.
Thaddaeus was the first to say anything.
He said it just wasn’t right for us to forget him.
Yes, we knew all about the betrayal now.
Yes, he was always a mercurial – an up and down kind of guy.
But wasn’t his passion part of what we loved about him?
Didn’t we love him?
Of course we did!
He was one of us from the beginning.
Something needed to be done.
Something needed to be said.
Yes, Matthias was one of us now – but Judas, Judas had been here all along – from the start.
We couldn’t just act like he hadn’t been there at all.
We couldn’t just forget him.
And it got silent for a very long time.
A long, tear-filled silence.
A confused silence.
A soft but solid – “I’ll do it” – broke the air.
We all looked at him.
Astonished.
“I’ll do it” he repeated.
“You’re right.”
“We can’t just brush his memory under the carpet.”
“Give me a day or two, then let’s go to the grave and remember him.”
What to do next?
Let his family know?
Get the word out to those who had been with us so much?
Sure, some would scoff and refuse to come.
Others might just grimace at the thought of his name let alone agree to come.
Some, no doubt would think us foolish or even blasphemous.
But we’d let everyone know we could.
And how they responded would be between them and their hearts and the Lord.
But in two days, we would gather.
The day itself was unremarkable.
And a goodly number did show up.
Around 200 I’d guess – give or take.
Some were clearly conflicted.
All were somber.
It became uncommonly and uneasily – quiet.
Then Peter stepped out and stood opposite us.
“I want to thank you all for coming, regardless of precisely why.”
“But as we – the 12, thought about it, we just couldn’t let Judas’ death go without reflecting on it. And doing something about it.”
“So here we are.”
Without exception, everyone wondered what he would say.
What COULD he say?
I don’t think any of us were really breathing.
“I want to say first of all, that this man, Judas, was my friend” – Peter began.
“And I loved him.”
“I loved him like a brother – more than a brother – a fellow apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
At this, Peter broke, and began to sob.
The tears flowed freely and copiously down his face.
“Tradition calls us to eulogize the dead” he began.
“And I can truly do that today.”
“But let no one confuse my eulogy as exoneration.”
“That, I cannot do.”
“And each of you knows full well why not.”
“But this man, Judas, born in Kerioth, was someone I knew for years.”
“I walked with him – lived with him, virtually unbroken for almost 3 years.”
“Once, I would have told you that I knew him as well as I knew myself.”
“Now, it seems none of us really knew him.”
“Except that in him, we come to see the true depths of the sin that infects the souls of each one of us.”
“There was nothing special about him that singled him out from the rest of us in terms of being any more wicked or sinful.”
“Nothing.”
“In fact, if there was anyone we all trusted, it was Judas!”
“If there was anyone we never suspected, it was Judas – at least no more than we suspected ourselves.”
“How well I remember those nights around the fire when we tried to fathom the things Jesus was saying and doing in front of us day by day.”
“Those long nights – stretching out into the early morning hours, speculating about who He really was – and what that really meant.”
“I loved his sense of humor.”
“He had the most uncanny way of putting others at ease – instantly.”
“You couldn’t help but like him – and trust him.”
“He was the most natural choice to be our treasurer.”
“He gave off this air of being solid and caring.”
“Sure, he had his opinions and his sharp edges – but nothing more than the rest of us.”
“When he was aghast at the extravagance of Mary’s anointing – he only said what the rest of us were thinking.”
“And when Jesus sent us out two by two – Phillip will tell you – he preached with conviction and clarity.”
“And the miracles! He wasn’t any less blessed to be the source of healing on that trip than any of the rest of us.”
“Again, when the seventy two got sent out – he was such a mentor to the new ones, drawing on his previous experience.”
“If you had asked me then who Judas was, I would have told you that he was the most trusted and trustworthy of all of us 12.”
“That he was a bosom friend of the most profound kind.”
“That not a one of us would ever have dreamed he would betray Jesus, and be the means of His crucifixion.”
“Sometimes, I still can’t believe it.”
And at this, Peter broke once more, just hung his head and – sobbed.
We wept with him.
Peter started again.
“Perhaps the thing which perplexes me most, is why Judas, and not me?”
“Listen to me carefully friends.”
“Yes, Judas denied Jesus.”
“But so did I!”
“Three times – you all know it.”
Just as Jesus said I would – that very night, I denied I knew Him three times!”
“Oh how my heart aches to think about it once again.”
“Yes, Judas denied Jesus by selling Him out to the Chief Priests for the 30 pieces of silver.”
“Yes, he denied Him once again by kissing Jesus in the Garden.”
“But the worst denial of all was in the act of hanging himself!”
“In that denial, the most important denial, he denied that there was forgiveness of sins in the blood of Jesus.”
“This, is the denial that damns.”
“It was a form of earthly, worldly repentance. But not a godly sorrow.”
“He tried to atone for his own sin in killing himself.”
“But there is no human way to expunge sin – even at the cost of one’s own life.”
“Jesus Himself told us that it was He who had authority on earth to forgive sins.”
“We can’t do it – for ourselves or for others.”
“Only God’s mercy extended to us in the Gospel – through the blood of Jesus as our substitute can suffice.”
“Nothing other.” Nothing else.”
“We all know this now.”
“This is the Gospel we preach everywhere we go.”
“Christ died for our sins!”
“This is our only hope.”
“This is what He told us to tell to the nations.”
“We must trust His atoning death on our behalf and that alone.”
“And when it is all said and done – this is what Judas didn’t believe.”
“So why?, I ask myself.”
“Why am I here today talking to you all while Judas lays dead?”
“Why are my three denials not the means of damning me, as his denials have damned him?”
“And there is but one word – listen to me – all of you.”
“One word – – grace.”
“Some how.”
“Some way.”
“For some reasons hidden deep in the heart and mind of God alone – He had mercy upon me, and wrought in my soul a saving faith which my friend Judas never received.”
“I will not lie to you nor try to explain the inexplicable.”
“I was no more deserving in any way, and Judas no less.”
“We were both born to the same Jewish heritage.”
“We were both taught in the Synagogues.”
“We were both called by Jesus to follow Him.”
“We both preached and taught and healed at Jesus’ behest.”
“We both saw Him raise the dead.”
“We both saw Him feed the five thousand from just a few loaves and fishes.”
We were both in the boat when Jesus calmed the sea, and we were both there when He called Lazarus out of the grave.”
“We both walked with Jesus and heard Him and watched Him for these three years.”
“We both hoped for a better day because He had come.”
“Listen to me – every one of you.”
“This is not an issue of lack of any proof.”
“Jesus proved Himself to us over and over and over again.”
“And we all heard Him give us the Gospel of the Kingdom more times than we can count.”
“Like Noah in his day, I can only say that I found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
“Grace that our Lord has commissioned us to preach to you today – even to every living creature.”
“Grace that calls you to come to Him and believe upon Him and be saved from your sins.”
“Grace that uses this very occasion to see in no uncertain – and in the most graphic and tragic of terms – the end of those who reject this Jesus as God incarnate and the only hope of salvation.”
“The end of those who deny Him, but never run to Him for His forgiveness.”
“The end of those who think to deal with their own sin their own way and not depend upon His mercy and grace alone.”
“The end of those who deny Him His right to rule and reign in their hearts and lives.”
“I stand here before you today every bit the denier of Jesus that Judas was.”
“And I stand here forgiven.”
“Cleansed.”
“Made new.”
“And a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to each one of you at this critical moment in your lives.”
“Judas is dead.”
“But Christ is risen!”
“Judas and I both denied Him.”
“But Christ’s supreme sacrifice is greater than all our sin.”
“In the words of Isaiah the Prophet: “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”’”
“All of your denials: denying Him His right to rule;
denying His singular power to forgive sins and save;
denying His deity and atoning sacrifice – He can and will forgive them all!”
“Judas refused all this. And died his death in his sins.”
“Do not do the same.”
“I plead with you – do not!”
“I stand before you as proof that Jesus Christ can save the worst of deniers.”
“And I plead with you to come to Him today – and believe.”
With that, Peter prayed.
Oh what a prayer!
A prayer of thanksgiving for God’s grace.
A prayer of intercession for those who were among us who still didn’t believe.
A prayer filled with tears.
A prayer of comfort for Judas’ family and friends.
A prayer, in the name of the blessed Son of God – Jesus the Christ – who alone can forgive sins, because of His atoning sacrifice on the cross at Calvary.
-
Genesis 3:6-11 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
Of all the creatures made by God, only Mankind was created to be able to apprehend God most completely.
We alone were made in His image.
The angels were holy, but they were not the stuff of which the incarnate Christ would one day be.
Our eyes were meant to behold His glory more than any other – to see Him in such relief and definition as to make us want to behold nothing else in comparison. So beautiful, so august and wondrous.
Our ears to hear His voice in all of its holy majesty. Whispers of terrible wonder. At once the voice of many waters, and yet still and small.
Our lips both to taste of His sweetness and to declare its unspeakable goodness to all others in wonder and overawed splendor.
Our bodies to feel the touch of the ineffable glory.
And above all, our minds to be so utterly fascinated, delighted, and astounded as to be eternally entertained in contemplation of Him.
To search our eternal and infinite considerations and to multiply them for ever and ever until we are so thrilled and delighted and exhilarated that our whole joy and delight in found in Him in ceaseless waves of unspeakable ecstasy.
This is how we were made.
But sin.
Sin strips us of this all-consuming, all fulfilling God-consciousness – and leaves us with self-consciousness. Knowing more about our own nakedness and that of others, than of the Wonder of the Ages.
What tragic and unspeakable loss.
What glory then the salvation in the blood of Christ which promises to restore us to that state – and that – unalterably for eternity.
Oh Heavenly Father, for the day when my whole being will be so preoccupied with the wonder of your glory that nothing else matters.
Come quickly Lord Jesus.
-
“I am but as a beast before thee, Lord.”—
Great poet-king, I thank thee for the word.—
Leave not thy son half-made in beastly guise—
Less than a man, with more than human cries—
An unshaped thing in which thyself cries out!
Finish me, Father; now I am but a doubt;
Oh! make thy moaning thing for joy to leap and shout.
MacDonald, George (2014-05-20). The Complete Works of George MacDonald: The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess And Curdie, Lilith, Phantastes, Parables, Far Above Rubies and More (73 Books With Active Table of Contents) (Kindle Locations 1110-1120). . Kindle Edition.
-
From Alexander Whyte’s Biblical Characters (Vol. 4), and why the Apostle John was regarded in the early Church as “John the Theologian.”
Meditate on Divine things, my brethren. Be men of mind, and be sure you be men of meditation. Mind is the highest thing, and meditation is the highest use of mind; it is the true root, and sap, and fatness of all faith and prayer and spiritual obedience. Why are our minds so blighted and so barren in the things of God? Why have we so little faith? Why have we so little hold of the reality and nobility of Divine things? The reason is plain—we seldom or never meditate. We read our New Testament, on occasion, and we hear it read, but we do not take time to meditate. We pray sometimes, or we pretend to pray; but do we ever set ourselves to prepare our hearts for the mercy-seat by strenuous meditation on who and what we are; on who and what He is to whom we pretend to pray; and on what it is we are to say, and do, and ask, and receive? We may never have heard of Philo, but we all belong to his barren school. The Lord Jesus Christ is but a name and a notion to us; a sacred name and notion, it may be, but still only a name and a notion. The thought of Jesus Christ seldom or never quickens, or overawes, or gladdens our heart. Whereas, when we once become men of meditation, Jesus Christ, and the whole New Testament concerning Him, and the whole New Jerusalem where He is preparing a place for us, will become more to us than our nearest friend: more to us than this city with all its most pressing affairs. Our conventional morning chapter about what Jesus Christ did and said, and is at this moment doing and saying, will then be far more real to us than all our morning papers and all our business letters.
Whyte, Alexander. Bible characters: Joseph and Mary to James, The Lord’s Brother. Edinburgh; London: Oliphant Anderson and Ferrier.
-
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world – John 1:25Lamb of God,
For sinners slain
Healing Balm,
For all sin’s pain
Crucified,
But ris’n again
We lift our hands to You.
Christ The Lord
The cosmos’ King
Sovereign God
O’er everything
Savior, Friend
To You we sing
We life our hands to You.
Come breathe afresh
Still make us new
Change every grain
Save through and through
Break, and shape and mold anew
Till all – is gloried You.
Son of God
And son of man
Sum of all
The Triune plan
Finish all
Thy hand began
Come make us more like You
Purge all sin
And cleanse each stain
By Thy blood
Let naught remain
Spirit work
Christ, all our gain
Come make us more like You.
Come breathe afresh
Still make us new
Change every grain
Save through and through
Break, and shape and mold anew
Till all – is gloried You.
Fill with love
Of holiness
All our frame
In pow’r possess
Christ’s own form
In all fullness
Come make us all like You.
-
From: A Book of Strife, In the Form of the Diary of an Old Soul – poems of George MacDonald.
Gloriously wasteful, O my Lord, art thou!
Sunset faints after sunset into the night,
Splendorously dying from thy window-sill—
For ever. Sad our poverty doth bow
Before the riches of thy making might:
Sweep from thy space thy systems at thy will—
In thee the sun sets every sunset still.
MacDonald, George (2014-05-20). The Complete Works of George MacDonald: The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess And Curdie, Lilith, Phantastes, Parables, Far Above Rubies and More (73 Books With Active Table of Contents) (Kindle Locations 916-925). . Kindle Edition.
-
One of the justly, most beloved of hymns, is Horatio Spafford’s glorious anthem – It is Well With my Soul.
As we approach Thanksgiving Day for this year of 2015, it is fitting for us as those in Christ to reflect once again on God’s magnificent mercy and grace to us in Jesus.
Below, is an attempt to thank the Lord for such gifts as all reside in our salvation in Christ’s atoning death, and those which issue from that salvation’s influence on the souls of others – like Mr. Spafford.
It may be sung to the same tune as the original – It is Well. And I trust it may thrill your own soul anew in considering our wondrous salvation in Jesus.
As Dave Theobald recently preached at ECF, we cannot, dare not, give thanks in the abstract. But personally, and specifically to our Triune God in Jesus Christ, for His amazing grace.
Vs. 1
Give ear to my thanks Lord, for this Thy gift of faith
That holds out the soul’s hand to Thee
Receiving your gifts, all in Jesus alone
Bringing sight, so the blind, Christ might see.
Chorus:
In the Cross
Where He died
All my sin, laid on Him
Crucified
Vs. 2
Blest Lord, send Thy Spirit to breathe on this poor clay
Till naught but His image remains
Till all sin and self are consumed in the flood
And my soul sings Your praise filled refrains
Chorus:
In the Cross
Where He died
All my sin, laid on Him
Crucified
Vs. 3
Immersed in the ocean of Christ’s unending love
I look, but in vain for a shore
For all sin in Him has been purged by His blood
And its stains washed away ever more.
Chorus:
In the Cross
Where He died
All my sin, laid on Him
Crucified
-
An excerpt from George MacDonald’s “The Diary of an Old Soul.”
Sometimes I wake, and, lo! I have forgot,
And drifted out upon an ebbing sea!
My soul that was at rest now resteth not,
For I am with myself and not with thee;
Truth seems a blind moon in a glaring morn,
Where nothing is but sick-heart vanity:
Oh, thou who knowest! save thy child forlorn.
-
Can be sung to the tune of O God our Help in Ages Past
Hear Thou, My Lord, my anguished plea
My soul undone for sin
Lift up mine eyes to see the Cross
Where Christ my soul did win
Amid the crush of daily life
I fall beneath the weight
Within, without Temptation’s lure
Draws out each sinful trait
I find no hope, but Christ alone
For only He can save
Fast tend my wounded heart once more
Thy holiness I crave
Renew my flagging, foolish mind
On this, Thy Truth alone
Lest in the World’s foul darkness lost
Sin claims me as its own
Refresh, restore my faith and hope
In Christ my Sov’reign Lord
In Him, in Him, and Him alone
Rests all you can afford
Unending mercy, plumbless grace
The depths of Thine own love
Abide within the breast of Him
Sent from your throne above
Take hold my hand, my grip too weak
Myself I cannot save
Now lift me from the miry clay
As Christ rose from the grave
Fill me afresh, Thy Spirit’s breath
Hand working Christ within
Till all at last subdued in Him
Brings death to all my sin
Lord haste that day when in the sky
Christ Jesus reappears
To call us home, to dwell with Him
In floods of joyful tears
When in that hour our every hope
At last is all fulfilled
In Glory’s throne room, Christ’s adored
Sin’s tumults finally stilled
The Devil and his wicked host
Cast in the lake of fire
Nought else but Christ’s own glory song
Will echo ever higher
Forever there in unveiled sight
At last we’ll see The Son
In Whom the Godhead’s fullness dwells
Salvation’s end full won
ResponsiveReiding 