An outstanding characteristic of the natural man is his craving for greatness, and his admiration for that which he calls "great." It matters little to him whether this greatness is for good or for evil. Men will follow with interest even the course of a criminal, if only he is guilty of "great" crimes!
To be great has always been a desire of man's heart. There is a very early expression of it in Gen. 11— at the plain of Shinar. There men said: "Let us make us a name." To that end they commenced building the Tower of Babel. Poor souls! Their great project only displayed their exceeding littleness. God's hand wrote "confusion" on their work. They reckoned without Him.
A little later in the history of mankind, we see the Pharaohs constructing their pyramids. And what are these? Nothing but tombs! Man's greatness ends but in death.
Nebuchadnezzar was a "great" monarch. At the summit of his glory he said: "Is not this great Babylon which I have built... by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?" In that same hour God's hand degraded him to the level of the beast of the field.
And so we shall see it everywhere: the greatness of one century well-nigh forgotten by the next.
Where can we find true, enduring greatness? Only in the eternal God. In Him alone do we find that which is worthy of honor, praise, and worship. All eternity cannot exhaust the songs of praise due Him.
Five scriptures bring before us five things that God calls "great." Let us examine them briefly.
1. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved)." Eph. 2:4, 5.
This is the first and greatest of the five. It is the root, the spring of all: God's great love; the free unbounded love that flows out from Him towards a sin-stricken, lost world, unhindered, unchecked by all our guilt and distance from Himself. What can we say to love like this? It is above all our comprehension.
Man loves that which he considers to be lovely. But God, who hates sin perfectly, loves the poor sinner, so unlovely and unloving. What "great love"!
“God is its blessed source;
Death ne'er can stop its course;
Nothing can stay its force;
Matchless it is.”
But the question arises, How can God's love be shown to us if we are sinners? Though God is love, He is holy and righteous, and His love cannot be exercised at the expense of His holiness.
2. Heb. 2:3 asks: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?”
Indeed it is a "great salvation," for God Himself planned it. And it was no less a Person than God's own blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who accomplished salvation's work.
Friend, have you ever realized that it was for you that that blessed Savior endured such agony of soul, such torture and degradation? Jesus knew and fully appreciated God's thoughts of sin, that sin of which men think so lightly. His holy head was bowed in death to meet the fierce anger of Jehovah against sin— your sin and mine. Now a "great" salvation He offers. Will you still neglect or despise it? If you are not saved, you are despising God's gift of His Son, the Son of His love. "What think ye of Christ?" That is the question for each one today.
Through infinite grace and mercy we may have this so great salvation. Then, are we now to keep ourselves in it? How vain would be the endeavor! But God has not laid upon us the keeping of ourselves. He knows that we could not do it. What He desires is our trust and our love. He will keep us. Indeed, we are "kept by the power of God.”
3. This brings us to our third scripture: "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will." Heb. 13:20, 21.
The "Great Shepherd" is our keeper. He keeps, He guards, He leads, He feeds His own. There is not a step on our pathway home to Himself that He does not know, for He has passed through this world before us, and knows just what we have to encounter. On His shoulders of strength and safety He carries us right home. There is not a care, not a trial, not a sorrow, which Jesus will not enter into, and bring us triumphantly through.
4. Now there is a word to those who are His own. "Go home to thy friends," said Jesus, "and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee." Mark 5:19. What a privilege is here given to us by the Lord Himself! He would have His people proclaiming to every creature everywhere His "great love," His "great salvation," His "great" shepherding care. What great things are ours.
But, my unconverted friend, what do you think of these things? That "great love" of God, manifested at such infinite cost, is toward you; that "great salvation" is offered to you freely at this moment. That "Great Shepherd" is yearning with an infinite tenderness over you, to impart all these great things to you. Then oh! why turn away? Can you turn a deaf ear to such love, to such pleadings of grace? Is your heart so hard, so filled with this world and its vain pleasures, that such "great love" as this cannot touch you? One scene lies ahead of you at the end of your career of rejection of God's infinite mercy, a scene of such greatness, such majesty and such awfulness as this world has never yet seen. Listen!
5. "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God... And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:11, 12, 15.
God has decreed that every knee shall bow to Jesus, and every tongue confess Him as Lord (Phil. 2:10, 11). Will you wait till that blessed Savior sits revealed on that throne as Judge? There can be no mercy shown at the "Great White Throne." It is a throne of righteousness. Dear friend, receive now God's offer of salvation; accept before God His estimate of His beloved Son and His work on the cross. At that very moment, on the authority of His own Word, this salvation, this love, this Shepherd will be yours, and the "Great White Throne" will have no terrors for you.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24.