In this part of the gospel of Luke, the Lord Jesus enters on His work and the character in which he presented Himself before men. His ministry was, of course, in Israel, still in the wide sense it was before men. It is not here the work which He did, His service and preaching, as the proof of His mission; nor is it the doctrine of His divine nature, as presented in the gospel of John; but it is what He was revealed as man, filled with the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. It is the Lord Jesus presenting Himself to man as God visiting His people; and this not only in the glory of His person, but being filled with the Holy Ghost as man. Man, in his deep misery, needed Him, and the Lord Jesus came, as the vessel of divine power, revealing God in grace in the midst of the scene of Satan's power. He had been owned as God's Son, and filled with the Holy Ghost; and now, after having overcome Satan in all his temptations in the wilderness, (for "the devil, having ended all his temptations, departed from him for a season,") he returned in the power of the Spirit, and taking his place with the remnant in Israel, we see Him going about in the perfect power of the Holy Ghost, and as man overcoming evil (free Himself), thus manifesting the power of God in man.
Now this is not promise, neither is it doctrine; though both are most right and precious in their place; but it is the accomplishment of promise in the per-son of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
It is the Lord Himself coming into the evil, and manifesting perfect grace and perfect power. This He ever does for us, although there is a change in the working of it out, since He has gone up for us into the glory. It is a very different thing to have promises, and to have Him in whom the promises are accomplished.
It is indeed a great thing to have promises: they are most precious as blowing up the fire of our faith; but they are not the object round which our affections can gather. But round the person of Christ they can. That blessed center gathers round itself from the evil of this world, and awakens by the revelation of all His grace, hopes, desires, and affections, which find no rest but in Himself: delivering us from this present evil world by His divine power.
He came to Nazareth, where He was known, and read in the synagogue out of the prophet Isaiah, where it is written, " the Spirit of the Lord is upon ME, because he bath anointed ME to preach the gospel to the poor; he bath sent me to heal the brokenhearted," and so on; and then " He closed the book and sat down, and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began to say unto them this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." 'The promise was in scripture, but this day It is fulfilled in myself. Here it is, it is I myself. And if promise has awakened any hopes and desires in your souls, in my person alone will be the fulfillment of them; for the fulfillment of the promise is in ME.' "The Spirit of the Lord is upon ME; he hath anointed ME," &c. &c. Hero was perfect, unmingled grace.
In Isaiah there had been various pleadings and calls for repentance, (see chap. 59:1-16,) and in the midst of "all this comes forth this PERSON. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon ME." (chap. 61.) It is a person, not a promise, and therefore deliverance and unmingled blessing. The person of the Lord Jesus having come in, who is the link of blessing, and perfect, unmingled grace, we hear no more of judgment, except to clear away the oppression of the enemy. God's love having been made manifest in the appearing of Jesus, it was "the acceptable year of the Lord," because the person of Jesus was there. Therefore in this 4th of Luke He says nothing about "the day of vengeance of our God," because that was not yet come, the Church having to be gathered first. Christ is always true in Himself, in His person; but no doctrine, nor promise can give us Christ Himself as present with us. The Lord may have to chastise us, but whenever He presents Himself to our souls, His person gives perfect peace. It is this perfect grace and perfect blessing that subdues and gives us lowliness of heart, gentleness of spirit, and quietness in the midst of trouble. Suppose the world is going on badly, Christ is not going on badly; if the Church has failed, Christ has not failed; so then my heart is in perfect peace. Christ says, "Here am I;" and if He is here, everything is at His charge. Let "the day of vengeance," or what will come, if I possess Himself, all is perfect peace, for in the person of Christ we get everlasting life. It will be thus in the millennium, and it is this that gives the blessedness of the 145th Psalm-Christ being the blessed-mess in Himself. But now Christ is here for the sorrowful, the poor, the lame, the blind, the halt; for their souls find in their very wants the key to unbounded blessing and unmingled grace. The moment their eyes gazed on His blessed Person they got what they wanted. He came in the midst of sinners to bring in perfect grace.
But now He goes on to show the way in which grace will be received by nature. There was no perception of it after all that they had witnessed; for they say " Is not this Joseph's son?" The Father had said of Him, "This is my beloved Son," "and all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth." Then was the Son of man sowing the word and it touched them, for it was adapted to their need, and there is nothing so intelligent as a want. You will never satisfy a hungry man by explaining to him what bread is; he wants the bread itself. But not apprehending the one who can alone meet the want, the heart does not find its rest. Not laying hold on Christ, through the unbelief of their hearts, they wonder at His words and say, "Is not this Joseph's son?" "And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country." As he says in another scripture, " A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." Thus the Lord, in effect, says, If I come as a man, I cannot do any mighty works, because of the unbelieving heart of man, who will only account me as a man, because he looks only on the out-aide. " Is not this Joseph's son?"
But there was a sense in which the power of God would work, and show that sovereign grace would outstrip and over-step these bounds of mere nature, and go where sin and misery needed Him, even to the widow of Sarepta. But when this grace of His heart is intimated, they were filled with wrath, and would have cast the Lord down the hill-hating the grace that would act in sovereign goodness. For if man cannot have God in his own way, and on his own terms, his pride is wounded, and he will not have God at all. Because the natural heart, not looking beyond the surface, cannot bear God to go beyond, in His grace, the limits of their narrow thoughts. Nevertheless, all this does not hinder the Lord from showing that grace has power in itself, and adapts itself to bring in all the deliverance needed by poor, guilty, lost man. And in the 34th verse, we see the very demons knew who the Lord was, and what He was about; for these demons knew full well that He was not "Joseph's son" to them. "Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. It is man only who is dull and stupid; for these demons knew who and what He was, when man, to whom all this grace is adapted, was ignorant of Him.
But grace does not stop because of man's malice. Satan was holding man captive, and Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and he came out of the man, and hurt him not. And it is blessed to see that but one single word of this blessed One will drive Satan away; a proof of His grace and power towards man, and of a power not to be resisted acting on these demons. He is God, I need not say; but here it is power in the vessel, man. This was not a doctrine nor a promise merely; He Himself was there in living power as man. As man, and Son of God, too, He came amongst us in all our misery and ruin. This is, indeed, "goodwill to men." What a deliverance! We may not have yet fully known it, it may be, still there it is for faith to rest upon; all His power is for me. It is not simply in God, but He comes and interests Himself in man, as man; and we have always the love and the power which interests itself for is and in us. This is unchangeably true, although it now works in a different and more glorious manner.
The next scene is in Simon's house. There we find sickness nigh unto death, and who can resist this but He who came to take our infirmities and sicknesses upon Himself? " Jesus of Nazareth, the man whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him,"-as Peter says in Acts a. 38. What a thing it is, what a glorious fact, for poor lost man to find man so used as to be a vessel of' this mighty power! Christ went about in the activity of love, doing good, and all diseases vanished, and demons disappeared before Him; but still He was the servant, for when they sought to stay Him amongst them, He could not remain, for He was not come seeking self, but the good of men. He was the servant, the sent one. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:88He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8).) Now "promises" are most encouraging to our faith, and "exceeding precious;" (2 Peter 1) but we never read of promises destroying devils. Promises are not "the powers of the world to come." Miracles (for it is the same word,) are these " powers of the world to come," because effected by the perfect power of Christ, whose shall be all the power in the world to come; and when Satan will be bound, so that he can do no further mischief. The reason why in Hebrews it is called " the powers of the world to come" is that it is part and parcel of this very same power of Jesus, which up to the moment of the world to come, comes in, in grace and power, to deliver man.
But the Lord came in the grace which entitled Him to gather souls round Himself, and to communicate this power to others. This is quite a different thing from working miracles, and giving the power to others to work them. But a power has come in which has touched the springs of my heart, and convinced me of sin, thus making me a vessel of this grace, so that I may convey the same grace to others; being made the channel of it, because I am living in the present enjoyment of it in my own soul, thus making us, as He did Peter, to be catchers of men. " Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men." Simon Peter had followed. Christ, when John the Baptist spoke of Him, but he had returned to his ordinary occupation of fishing, when the Lord came and entered Simon's ship and taught the people. And when He had done speaking to the people, He said to Simon, " Let down your nets for a draft. And Simon said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing; nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net." Here we see Simon is obedient to the Lord's word, and the Lord meets him at this point. For so great was the draft of fishes, that their nets brake, and they filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. The power was thus seen, but with it the consciousness of having no strength to receive this power. The nets brake, and the ships began to sink. But we find this power working in Peter's soul, and revealing the utter incompatibility of God to man, which makes him say, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." The person of Jesus being revealed to the soul, the utter unfitness to be with Him is felt in the conscience; and the effect of this is, that the soul takes Christ's part against itself. It takes the Lord's side to maintain His glory; for righteousness is planted in the conscience. I am a judged man in my conscience, and then I can only say, 'You ought not to stay with such a sinful man as I am; you ought not to stay in such company'—"depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." But Peter's conscience having been reached, and having judged himself as God judged him-as a sinful man-immediately the Lord steps in, and, in the mighty power of His grace, says, "Fear not." The Lord came into the ship to teach Peter this grace, for He knew full well the state of his soul; and He brought him into this position that He might come in upon the sin-stricken soul in the power of His grace, saying, Fear not. But not only did the Lord deal with Peter in grace, but, having emptied him of self and filled him with grace, He says I am now going to use you as a " vessel meet for the master's use." For now you know what man is, having learned your own heart; and you know what God is, having tasted His grace: "from henceforth thou shalt catch men." It would be enough to praise God for throughout eternity that I was gathered myself, but what is it for a poor sinner to be used in making known this grace to others! This is the power which detaches from everything around; for they left all and followed Him. It was not now Judaism or ordinances, but gathering grace that was at work. And it is now a divine manifestation drawing out and gathering the soul into the revelation of Christ, and then it is able to say, " I am a new creature in Christ Jesus." When the Lord was upon the earth He was drawing poor souls to Himself; but the chief priests and Pharisees could not bear this divine manifestation of grace.
There can be no mending of man except by giving him an object directly the opposite of that which is in himself, and which will necessarily make him exactly the opposite to all that he ever was before. There must be the gathering up of the soul into the thought of the Lord Jesus.