Exodus 22:21
ISRAEL were told, “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him"; and this is repeated in chapter 23:9; “for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” When no longer in the place of strangership, but in their own land, they would still know the heart of a stranger, having been such themselves in Egypt. They would remember how they had been oppressed, and the bitterness of their bondage of former clays, and they could sympathize with those who were strangers in a strange land, and show them kindness.
How sweet it is to know that our Lord Jesus, though He is no longer a stranger here, but has gone to the Father, yet having been such when down here in this world, He never forgets it. He knows by experience “the heart of a stranger” still!
The strangers in Israel were objects of the Lord’s special care, and were not to be “oppressed,” even by His own people. How touching the remembrance that when God’s dear Son, the Son of His love, was a stranger in this world, “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,” (Isa. 53: 7). In Psalm 103: 6 it is said: “The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.” Yet in His case righteousness and judgment were executed against, and not for, Him. For on the cross God “made Him to be sin for us,” (2 Cor. 5:21), before it could be for Him in resurrection and glory. And He shares this place with all His own.
The blessed Lord Jesus who once sat in weariness at Sychar’s lonely well is now no more a stranger, but with the Father, “ascended up far above all heavens” — yet He is “the same.” And He doesn’t forget those He loves who are still down here in this world. If you are one of those who have trusted in Him, dear rear, He will make you to be the object of His love forever.
When He came into this world, brought to “the inn” — the place of strangers and sojourners — to be born, there was no room for Him even there! Not even a traveler’s accommodation in a world full without Him. Though Lord of all, and He alone able to meet the need and fill the hungry with good things, yet for Him there was “no room"!
O ever homeless Stranger,
Thus dearest Friend to me,
An outcast in a manger,
That Thou might’st with us be.”
When one sought to follow Him the Lord made it clear to him that it was a stranger whom he sought to follow, saying to him: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” Such was the path of Jesus here.
Yet the blessed Son of God gives His creatures to enjoy comforts He never enjoyed down here on earth. May we for whom He died, instead of settling down in the midst of those comforts, in the scene where He has called each to be “a pilgrim and stranger,” be able to look up and honestly say,
This is not my rest, Lord,
A pilgrim confessed,
Lord; I wait to be blest
At Thy coming again.
“Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.’ Micah 7:19
How happy, how happy, how happy is he
Whose sins are all buried far under the sea,
Who’s trusting in Jesus, his Shield and his Tower,
And daily is proving His keeping power.
ML-03/01/1970