In Luke 12 the Lord is unfolding the principles which are to guide His people in an adverse world while He is away. The first great principle is, that “There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid that shall not be known. Therefore, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops” (vss. 2-3).
The Sinner and the Saint
This is a very solemn truth — the world is walking in a vain show and things are kept secret now, but a day is coming when everything shall be brought to light. I do not know how far our hearts like to think that everything will be brought to the light. If we shrink from the thought of its being brought out there, if we dread the thought of all being revealed then, it proves either that our conscience has not been brought into the light yet, or that we are not walking according to the light now. If that is the state of your soul your conscience is not practically right in the sight of God. If, as a sinner, your conscience is yet unpurged, there is nothing that can do so but the blood of Christ. But, as a Christian, when I stand in the light of God, I judge the evil in the light now, instead of its coming out afterwards, when we shall all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ.
As a sinner, you may be able to say, “I am a poor sinner, and the cross of Christ just suits me.” That will do very well. But can you say, “I am a poor sinner, and the judgment seat of Christ just suits me?” No, you say, that will not do. But when you have by faith passed the sentence of the day of judgment upon your own soul, and applied to yourself the truth, “There is none righteous, no not one,” and have seen that “they that are in the flesh cannot please God,” you then see what sin is before God now, as the judgment day will show it. When you have learned the blessed truth that He who is to judge the living and the dead has Himself come in to be the Saviour, and has borne your sins in His own body on the tree, before He becomes the Judge, you then know that when you are manifested before the judgment seat of Christ you are before Him who has Himself put all your sins away.
The efficacy of redemption is the whole thing. The Judge has charged Himself with the sins, and as He is the Judge, He must deny Himself if He imputes them to you who have believed. The work which has put them away is done, and cannot be repeated. This is what gives, not just hope, but “boldness in the day of judgment.” Some people have hope, and think it is more humble. If there is judgment at all there must be condemnation, but if I am justified there is no judgment for me, for how do I arrive before the judgment seat of Christ? He has said, “I will come again, and receive you to myself.” He so loves me that He is coming Himself for me, and He shall change my vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, so when I go up before the judgment seat of Christ it will be in and like that Christ who has loved me and given Himself for me! — who has come Himself to take me to be with Him forever!
As to judgment, there is no such thing for the saint. We shall know even as we are known, when we shall be in glory, conformed to the image of the Son; when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. What is judgment if we are completely like the Judge, and He Himself our righteousness?
Loins Girded and Lights Burning
“Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord.” This is what gives the proper character to the Christian’s place while here below — Waiting for Christ! The one true proper hope of the saint is the coming of Christ to receive him to Himself. Death is not properly the Christian’s hope. The hope is “not that we would be un-clothed [without the new body], but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” Mortality is not swallowed up of life when I am dead. Because of this hope, we are to be “like unto men that wait for their Lord.” You are to have your eye on Christ as coming to receive you; that is to be your character — waiting — so that when He comes you may open to Him immediately.
In Matthew 25 you get the account of the virgins not watching. Wise and foolish — they all went to sleep; they did not watch. Two things characterize the true servant after the rejection of Christ — “loins girded” and “lights burning,” that is, expectation of His return and service. There ought to be a full, distinct, unqualified profession in us, shining as God’s lights in the world. While we are here in this world we must have our loins girded. It is our place to serve. This is not the place for rest, but for watchfulness. We must watch over our every thought while here. But, what is Heaven? Heaven is where I can let my heart go! That is an immense comfort. Here I must have my loins always girded; here my condition is that my heart is kept in order by the Word of God; here I am waiting for Christ who has set Himself apart as the heavenly Man in the glory that He may be the object before our hearts. I am waiting for one who loves me and is coming Himself for me. He does not send for me, He comes! We are to have our hearts ready to receive Him. A man who has his hand on the handle of the door is ready to open it the minute the knock comes, and this is what we should be. This has nothing to do with prophecy.
The coming of the Lord is the hope of the Christian for himself. Until the Lord comes, our place is watching, and He says, “Blessed are these servants, whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you that He shall gird Himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.” He says to us, “You have had your hearts on the stretch, and you were right to have them on the stretch, but I bring you to a place where you are to sit down, and it will be my delight to minister to you.” I not only get the blessing of being in the Father’s house, but I get the blessed Son of God ministering its joys to me. What a picture of the love of Christ! Love delights to serve, and here this Blessed One says, “I will gird Myself that I may serve you.” Christ took the form of a servant when He became man. Is He going to give up being man? Never. And He never gives up serving either. He took another service on ascending to heaven — to wash our feet. He has the first place in everything, and the first place in service too. He is not going to give it up, He is the servant forever! And we who serve and watch for Him here, during this little while of His rejection, will then find our reward in rest and in the feast at which Jesus will gird Himself to serve us.
This One Thing I Do
If we are faithful to Christ, we may meet with much evil to oppose us. But if we suffer for Christ’s sake, let us be meek as Christ was meek, in the midst of it all. He causes the wrath of man to praise Him, and restrains the remainder. All man’s wrath against Him only brought out the full and blessed accomplishment of God’s own purpose. What do I see on His riding into Jerusalem? — that until you get peace in heaven you never will get peace on earth. In the present state of things we want the whole armor of God, for spiritual wickedness is in the heavenlies. May we each say with Paul — this one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
If the Lord were to come this night, could we each say, “This is my Lord, I am waiting for Him?” Have you so known the virtue of Christ in redemption that you have nothing to fear at His coming, or are you allowing the spirit of the world to come in and hide your affection and devotion to Him? If He were to come, would the joy of your heart be to open to Him immediately? I have joy from Him till He comes; I have joy with Him when He comes again.
Words of Truth N3:161