The story is told of a rescue that took place some years ago in a fishing village on the European coast. One night a terrible storm capsized a fishing boat at sea, near the village. Stranded and in trouble, the crew sent out an S.O.S. The village rescue team quickly assembled in answer to the alarm and rowed off into the storm. Anxiously, the villagers assembled at a spot overlooking the bay, holding their lanterns to light the way back to port.
After a long, tense wait, the rescue boat reappeared and the villagers joyfully ran to the beach to meet them. The brave crew, falling exhausted on the beach, reported that one man had to be left behind, because even one more passenger would have capsized the rescue boat. Frantically, a call went out for a fresh rescue crew to assemble. But the crew that assembled found itself short one man.
At that moment, a 15-year-old lad stepped forward. His distraught mother clutched his arm, pleading, “Please don’t go. Your father died in a shipwreck ten years ago and your brother Franz has been lost at sea for three weeks. You’re all I’ve left!”
The young man quietly said, “Mother, I must go. No one else is able, and the crew can’t go without another man.” The young man gently kissed his mother, joined the team and disappeared into the raging storm. Another long wait ensued, which doubtless seemed like an eternity to the poor mother’s heart. Finally, the rescue boat broke through the storm and rain as it neared the beach. The 15-year-old was standing in its bow. Someone called out to him, “Did you get him?” The excited answer came back, “Yes, we got him. Tell my mother it’s Franz!”
We read these prophetic words in Isaiah 6:88Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. (Isaiah 6:8): “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” Isaiah’s willing desire is a little picture of our Lord’s perfect willingness and obedience. His desire to carry out the Father’s counsels is prophetically uttered in Psalm 408I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:8), “I delight to do Thy will, O My God,” and His obedience in Hebrews 10:99Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. (Hebrews 10:9), “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.” The Lord Jesus, perfect in love and obedience said, “As the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do” (John 14:3131But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. (John 14:31)). The blessed results are told in John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10), “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
We have many sweet accounts of obedience in Scripture. Joseph and David are both beautiful in their obedience to a father’s command. Jacob says, “Come, and I will send thee,” and Joseph obeys (Gen. 37:12-1312And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. 13And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I. (Genesis 37:12‑13)). Jesse tells David, “Visit thy brethren... see how they are,” and he obeys (1 Sam. 17:1818And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. (1 Samuel 17:18) JND). Yet in neither case was the question first asked, “Who will go for us.” It was not a question of loving desire responding, but of obedience to a command.
Unlike the mother in our story, the Father’s will was that the Son should come (1 John 4:1414And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. (1 John 4:14)). But the Son, in fellowship with the Father’s heart, not only was perfect in His obedience He was perfect in His desire to fulfill those eternal counsels.
Ed.