Shaken, but not Uprooted.

Matthew 11:7; Matthew 12:20‑21
UNFLINCHING boldness and faithfulness had characterized John in his ministry in the wilderness, but circumstances had changed with him. It is not always easy to wait, and wait in prison; to bear a reverse whether of prosperity or adversity. Circumstances try a man; they are the wind, which, if he be a reed will shake him. John had shown nothing of this reed-like character in his active service: the multitude would have looked in vain for it then; but the wavering manifested in his question is remarkable: “Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another?” Still, if the reed wavered, if it were shaken by the wind, it was not uprooted. The mind still dwelt upon the object of God’s counsels, He that should come. The faith was weak, the spiritual eye was dim for the moment; it may be, that Messiah, the hope of Israel, engrossed his thought. Was Jesus He? John had truly said, “I must decrease.” (John 3:3030He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30).) What is man? What saint, what servant, has not manifested weakness more or less? “He put no trust in His servants,” says Eliphaz, speaking of God to Job, and who is there upon earth would say such trust would be deserved? Yet no servant likes to be set aside. The Master disregards not the one who has been faithful. He does not overlook the weakness; He will not pass it by altogether; but He answers it in His own inimitable way. “Go and shew John,” &c. What was the character of the work which Jesus did? They were works of “benefit to man.” Man was considered in them. His needs were. Whatever the special need, the ministry of Jesus was applied to it. John came in the way of righteousness, Jesus in the way of grace. Grace looks not at the merit, but at the need of its object, and now John himself needs the testimony of this wondrous grace. The bruised reed shall not be broken in the Master’s hand, the smoking flax shall not be quenched. Faith, however low, shall be revived again; love, however feeble, shall be kindled afresh into a flame. The Son of God, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, discerns each one, discerns all things. Perfection is in all His ways. He will plead the cause of His servant, when that servant’s state and circumstances are at the lowest. He will reprove him too, if needful, yet in the gentlest grace. Have you ever noticed the expression, “the meekness and gentleness of Christ”? How sweetly it comes out here! “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.” Jesus knows all the difficulties of service, all the difficulties in the way of His servants, all the trials too of those who are laid aside from what is generally considered service. All is known to Him. But He was rejected in His turn. Like all who have been faithful in their day and generation, He, as a prophet, is rejected. Blessed Master! But His rejection only brings out His perfection, brings out the more fully who He is as well as what He is. He thanks the Father, owns Him Lord of heaven and earth; owns His sovereignty over all things; over all the spiritual world—the world of light and intelligence—the world of the spirits of men upon earth. They may reject the testimony of the lowly Jesus, but the Son has all things delivered into His hand. The Father has done this. (See also John 3:35,35The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. (John 3:35) and compare 1 Corinthians 8:66But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. (1 Corinthians 8:6).) Only the Father knows the Son―the Son only knows the Father―He and those to whom He reveals Him of His own sovereign will. Sovereignty is something very terrible to those who don’t know grace, awful indeed, we may say, reverential awe becomes those who are in the presence of it. The Son of God has stooped, aye, even unto Calvary, to make the Father known. He made Him known indeed, in life, in His majestic, tender, holy ways (John 14:99Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? (John 14:9)); but in death He made a way for the outflowing’s of the infinite love that passeth knowledge, that ever was in God, for God is love; but never till then showed itself in all its fullness, breaking down as with a mighty tide all barriers that opposed it: providing for all man’s spiritual wants in that most rich and precious blood there spilled upon the tree, showing to what vast extent that love could go to save a ruined, guilty race, a race of sinners. Oh, how touching to hear the Son of God, the heir of all things in the consciousness of power, addressing man, addressing sinners with the words, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Blessed Jesus! there is none elsewhere, we know it, none in creation, none in law, none anywhere, save in Himself—the Lord, the Son, the Saviour. There is rest in Him, in His atoning blood, His spotless perfection, His righteousness, now for the sinner that believes, for Christ is made unto us righteousness, Christ is the righteousness. Once more hear Him saying, “Come unto me.” Burdens fall away when He is reached, labor and hopeless toil beneath the law of Moses cease. Jesus gives rest. The Son of God gives liberty. Bruised reeds arise unbroken, for the Lamb of God was slain. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief, therefore He can say, risen and exalted as He is upon the throne of God in heaven, “Come unto me.” He has title to say it―redemption title―title earned as the suffering man, “Come unto me.” The glories of His person are untouched by all that He suffered in humiliation. Glorify His name then, bow the willing knee to Jesus, grace will bow the heart to Him and fill the soul with peace, while He alone becomes the object, the center of worship and of rest.