Monday Meditation
August 22, 2016
From the desk of A.J. Higgins
Windows into Wealth
“Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business” Luke 2:49
“This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well-pleased” Matt 3:17
“This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well-pleased. Hear ye Him. Matt 17:5
“I have both glorified it and will glorify it again” John 12:28
Words are insightful and revealing. It is amazing what can be revealed in even a few words. Each of the above-cited quotations was like a magnificent exclamation mark over years in the life of the Lord Jesus.
We are given very little information about the 12 years of the Lord Jesus prior to His appearance in the Temple in Luke 2. The historian does tell us that during that time “He grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him” (Luke 2:40).
But it is in the words of the Lord Jesus, His only recorded utterance during the first 30 years of His life, that a wealth of truth is appreciated. Didn’t His parents know from all they had seen during those 12 years that His natural inclination would be to be in the things of His Father? Were they not aware that at every opportunity, the Word of God and the things of God would be the concern of His life?
Such had been the tenor of those 12 years growing as a boy in Nazareth, that not one moment of that time was marked by folly or self-centered living. He would be subject to earthly parents, but He would serve a Father in heaven. He was content to be misunderstood and under-valued; His eye was on His Father alone.
But another 18 years pass in silence and obscurity. The Carpenter of Nazareth labored daily over His tools. He dealt with abusive customers, hard to please clients, and deadbeats and cheaters. He lived in a town reputed for its ill-repute. Those years close, however, with heaven being rent and a voice proclaiming that the Man going down into Jordan was far different from all others who were baptized that day. Here was a Son in Whom a Father found everything that brought Him pleasure. No sin of commission nor sin of omission could be charged against Him; no virtue was absent and no virtue was limited. All that God sought in a man was present in fullness in Him.
It may have been half way through His public ministry before heaven was again opened. This time He was not standing amongst sinners, but with the elite of heaven – Moses and Elijah. He was unappreciated by the nation and He was misunderstood and under-valued again; but this time it was by those closest to Him, Peter. Heaven once again must comment on His service and character. The voice came from the excellent glory announcing to those on the mount that here was a unique Man, not only better than the best, but distinct and the total source of a Father’s joy.
Finally, His life is nearing its “exodus.” He is about to make His way to the Garden and then ascend the hill of Golgotha to lay down His life to display His love for His Father. The fateful choice before Him was hardly a choice: to be saved from the hour or to glorify the Father. To His request, “Father, glorify Thy Name,” comes the response that God had glorified it in the life of His Son, and would glorify it again in His resurrection. The Father was once again giving His appraisal of a life lived for His pleasure. The Son had glorified His Father by displaying the full character of His Name before men (Ex 34:5-7).
Consider
1. Can you also find times in the Old Testament when God addresses His Son?
2. Think of the words of the Lord Jesus in Luke 2:49 and ask yourself what else they may reveal about those silent years.
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