THE echoes of those hosannas, which welcomed the Son of David as He rode into Jerusalem upon the ass’s colt, had hardly died away, when the Gentiles inquired after Him, “We would see Jesus.” Jews and Gentiles were thus honoring Him, and were unconsciously proclaiming the coming day when all the kingdoms of the earth shall recognize the King.
The path of the Lord was marked by almost unbroken rejection, but for one brief hour it seemed as if He were about to be welcomed by man. The hour of His entry into Jerusalem was one of glory. The angels had proclaimed to the earth from the shining light, God’s thoughts of good pleasure in man when Jesus was born in Bethlehem King of the Jews; heaven’s voice had been heard over Him when He had begun His work of service; and, again, the Father had spoken when the words of even a disciple had expressed misjudged thoughts concerning Him: but now the very voices of earth give Him honor. “We would see Jesus” were joyful words; they gladdened the Lord, for not only did the utterance give heart-tribute to Him, but in seeking to see Him men sought the secret of happiness. And the Lord Jesus owned in the desires of these Gentiles the earnest of the longings of men, who should yet seek His face. As they spoke, His grace reached out to men—not to Jews only, but to men—and He replied, “The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” When the hillsides of Olivet resounded with “Hosanna to the Son of David,” it was the acclaim of the chosen nation, but when the Gentiles said, “We would see Jesus,” it was the voice of the human race. The Saviour replied—as Son of Man—speaking of glory accruing to Himself in relation with man generally, not with the Jews only.
This glory of the tribute of Jew and Gentile to the Lord occurred during the last few days of His life on earth. His disciples must have greatly misunderstood Him, as they hastened to tell Him how that men were moved to seek His face. They knew not that within a few short days the Lord they loved would be lying in the grave. The Man of Sorrows was acquainted with grief, even while the hosannas rang around Him, and while the palm branches were waved before His face. In the city, which shone in its fair brilliancy beneath Him, as He looked upon it from the slopes of Olivet, were Pharisees and Scribes plotting His death. The noble buildings and the temple were storehouses of crime; and the very multitude which cried hosanna to Him, was composed in great part of men whose fickle hearts could, and soon would, as easily cry, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”
What were the fair scenes of this earth, and what the shoutings of the multitude to the Lord! Oh! reader, sin is here, and like the worm within the bud of spring it is gnawing through earth’s fairest promises, and developing death. Let the presence of sin and the fact of death be the explanation of the trouble of our Lord’s spirit, which seems at first sight so strangely out of accord with the glory of the glad hour when Jew and Gentile were seeking to see His face.
As Son of God, He had triumphed over the grave, and robbed death of its prey in the person of Lazarus. As Son of David, He had entered the city of the King in royal state. As Son of Man, He had received the tribute of the Gentiles. The world had gone after Him, the multitudes assembled to keep the Passover were at His feet, the Pharisees prevailed nothing; and yet the Master was sorrowful. These are His words “Now is My soul troubled.”
Reader, we pray you ponder over this sorrow of the Saviour. With all these outward tokens of reverence, He was still solitary. Sin and death stood between Him and the men He had come to bless. His answer to the disciples, who bare to Him the wishes of the Gentiles, was, “The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.” He was alone, alone in His purity, alone in His holy humanity. He could, and did, partake with men in their sorrows; but none could partake with Him. He was ever their friend and their consoler; but He was solitary. Man was not united to Him. Nothing is more notable in the life of Jesus than His deep loneliness; yet He was not alone, for His Father was with Him.
“But,” and there was the alternative—the solitariness could be exchanged for companionship. The record of His eternal thoughts is that His delights were with the sons of men. Yes, there was one way by which the solitary corn of wheat might be fruitful—but only one way, “if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”
Again we pray you to consider the Saviour’s sorrow; He loved the men He came to bless, He would have them see Him, and forever; and be with Him, and forever: but in order to accomplish this end He must needs die, and by dying put away sin, and by rising up out of death empty the grave and fill heaven with resurrection fruit.
“Now is my soul troubled,” —now that the hour had come for Him to be glorified; for the trouble of death was near upon Him. He was about to be lifted up, not to David’s royal throne, but on the malefactor’s cross. And there, as the sin-bearer, forsaken of His God, He was to become the mighty center attracting all unto Himself. There, a multitude innumerable was to assemble around Him, women and children, Jews and Gentiles, people of every clime and generation; and they were to fix the eyes of their hearts upon Him—to look and to live. But who can conceive the depths of His sorrow, who can fathom the sea of His sufferings?— “And what shall I say?” Weigh well this question of the Lord’s— “And what shall I say?” as He looked into death and into its darkness, into the deep and unutterable woe of sin bearing, and the inconceivable sorrow of the cross.
Yet as the blessed Lord thus spoke, it was not only the suffering that was before Him, He also saw the “much fruit” —the harvest of souls saved, and men risen from among the dead. If we cannot fathom His griefs, neither can we measure the results of them. If we stand dumb before His cross, we are silent in the consideration of its gains. Still more, as the Lord looked into the Father’s counsels and love, for in the volume of the book it had been written of Him, “Lo I came to do Thy will, O God.” Once more, this His question falls upon our hearts— “What shall I say?”
“Father, save me from this hour?” This hour of the bearing of sin, of being forsaken of God? No, Jesus came into this world to save, He came to wash away sins, He came to bear the wanderer home to God. As you wonder at His sorrows, and weigh over His question, consider His own words, “But for this cause came I unto this hour.” For the cause of your salvation, of your peace and pardon, He came to suffer and to die. And since you believe on Him, you are part of the much fruit He brings to God.
The answer of the Lord to His question is “Father, glorify Thy Name.” He came, here to do the will of Him, who sent Him, not to do His own will. The ways of the Lord on earth are an unsolved mystery to us, so long as the name of the Father is unknown. The glory of the Father’s name was the object of the Son when He was upon this earth. At the cross the whole moral being of God was magnified. From the death of Jesus life has come to God’s children abundantly. The world has been judged, and evil set aside, and through righteousness grace reigns. On the other side of the cross of Christ rises up the great harvest of the much fruit of resurrection. Each believer is a child swelling the glory of God, and each is a child in resurrection. The Father has many children, and the children have life in the Risen One. In that resurrection, and in its present acquired blessings, there is no hindrance to the outflow of the Father’s love. His Name is known in association with His Son, Who is the firstborn from among the dead.
The Lord having said, “Father, glorify Thy Name,” a voice from heaven was heard, for the fourth time, and for our sakes.
“Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
God had glorified the Son (when He brought Him into the world), then the angels gave Him honor; the Father had glorified the Son when He stooped to the servant’s place, and began His lowly ministry, then the heavens opened upon Him and gave Him honor; the Father had glorified the Son when, in His shining brightness, His supremacy had been almost questioned by a disciple, then He Himself gave Him honor; thrice previously had the heavens uttered their voices, but now, and for the fourth time, in response to the Son Himself, the Father declared that He had glorified, and would glorify His own Name. This voice has its own peculiar character. It is uttered in direct response to the Son’s desires, and the glory of which it speaks is in connection with resurrection.
At the grave of Lazarus was seen the glory of God. That death was “for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” In one sense the Son of God will be glorified in everyone whom He raises at the resurrection of life. Each of His own, brought up out of the grave by the bidding of His voice, shall come forth an eternal witness to His power and His grace. The Lord’s ways at the grave of Lazarus teach us of His glory. As the weepers sorrowed round the sepulcher of Lazarus, poor human thought could not contemplate, without shuddering, the removal of the stone where the dead lay, for human thoughts stop at the grave. There the eyes of the bereaved are often fixed. But Jesus, having comforted Martha, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, “Father I thank Thee, that Thou hast heard Me.” Then He called the sleeper forth from death’s slumber, and the house in Bethany was once more home.
In the hour of our Lord’s sorrow the voice from heaven, addressed to Him for our sakes, leads our hearts to think of His resurrection, and how He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. (Rom. 6:44Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4).) The Father’s name was glorified then. The Holy One who had accomplished the work given Him to do could not be holden of death.
Jesus risen is our Saviour. His resurrection is proof of the glory His work has brought to God. The Name, the character of God the Father, is abundantly magnified in that resurrection. Now we have life in Christ who is risen, presently we shall be raised with Him. Then the children will be gathered together, the Father’s house will be filled, and the Home above will be in every sense Home indeed. H. F. W.