Young People’s Blog

“He that is least among you, the same shall be great” (Luke 9:48).

We saw yesterday that is wrong for us to want to “be somebody;” that is, we should not want to be somebody important. Here in our verse today the Lord Jesus tells us how to be truly great. True greatness lies in being the least among others, for then we become more like the Lord Jesus.

The Lord Jesus was the only man who had a right to be great, for He is the Son of God. He created this world, and upholds “all things by the word of His power.” (See if you can find the reference for this verse too.) But He voluntarily took the lowest place in this world, and went all the way to Calvary’s cross.

If you think for a moment about those Christians whom you like and admire the most, are they proud people who want to be important? No, they are almost surely those who take a low place, and who want to serve the Lord, and serve others.

“The Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them…Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest” (Luke 9:44-46).

The disciples were expecting a glorious earthly kingdom to be set up, but the Lord Jesus had to remind them that before the kingdom could be set up, He would have to go to the cross. As we see in our verses for today, the disciples could not understand this; it was “hid from them.” But then we read in the next verse that they were having a discussion about which of them should be greatest.

This was one of the reasons why they could not understand. They were thinking about themselves, and not about the Lord Jesus. Here He was, humbling Himself and going to the cross, while they disputed about who should be greatest.

Sometimes we have this problem too. If we are wanting “to be somebody,” as the saying goes, we are not thinking in the right way. Pride in ourselves is always wrong, and it can make it difficult for us to understand God’s thoughts. The Lord Jesus was “meek and lowly in heart,” and we are called to be like Him. See if you can find the place where it tells us that the Lord Jesus was “meek and lowly in heart.”

“His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men” (Isaiah 52:14).

When the Lord Jesus suffered on the cross for sin, it tells us here that His face was marred more than any man, and His form (body) more than the sons of men. What does that mean? We know that the Jewish leaders punched him in the face, and that Pilate scourged Him. The soldiers placed a crown of thorns on His head, and nailed Him to the cross. However, we know too that many people have had their bodies seriously injured from car accidents, industrial accidents, attacks by wild animals, etc. Does this verse mean that the face and body of the Lord Jesus were injured more than any other person? I believe the thought goes deeper than that.

The Hebrew word for “marred” is used only one other time in the Bible, and there it is translated “corruption,” for this is one of the meanings of the word. I believe that this meaning shows us what the word means in our verse today. It was not only the physical suffering that the Lord Jesus felt so much, terrible though it was. Rather it was His being made sin for us, and bearing our sins in His body during the three hours of darkness, that made His face and His body marred more than any man. He was made to be corruption for our sakes. How this ought to touch our hearts!

“Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor” (Ephesians 5:2).

Today we have a verse that shows us the same thing as we had yesterday, that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was a sweet-smelling savor to God. Why did it have such a sweet smell to God? It was because of the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus to the will of His Father. Every father in this world knows how much it means to him to have an obedient child, and especially if he asks that child to do something that is very unpleasant. Think of how much it meant to God the Father to see His beloved Son go willingly to Calvary’s cross, and bear the judgment for sin! It was indeed a sweet smell to God.

In the same way we can be a sweet savor to God, if we obey His command to walk in love with one another. In this way we are “followers of God,” as it says in verse one of Ephesians 5. It means a great deal to God our Father when we obey His commands.

“Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard…and anointed the feet of Jesus…and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment” (John 12:3).

Yesterday we saw that when the holiness of God was displayed in the temple, the “house was filled with smoke.” The smoke was a warning to man that God could not be directly approached in those days, and that a sacrifice was needed. Here we find that another smell filled a house—the house where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived in a town called Bethany.

This was a different kind of smell—an odor that people would love to smell. It was the smell of a precious ointment that was poured onto the feet of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus was a guest in the house, and Mary took this opportunity to honor Him in this way. Mary understood clearly that the Lord Jesus needed to go to the cross, and she came ahead of time to anoint his feet as a token of her love for Him. This smell was a picture of what the work of Christ is to God; it is a sweet smell, for our Lord Jesus was perfectly obedient to His Father’s will, even though this obedience took Him all the way to the cross. We will see another verse about this tomorrow.

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts…and the house was filled with smoke” (Isaiah 6:3-4).

We had this verse before us back in July, but I want to look at it again, and compare it with another verse which we will see tomorrow. As we said back in July, where there is smoke there is fire, and the smoke speaks of a warning to man of the judgment of God. Fire in the Bible often speaks of judgment, and the smoke is a picture of God’s warning about it. It was a warning to Isaiah, away back, hundreds of years before the Lord Jesus Christ was born.

You and I would not want to be in a house that was filled with smoke. It irritates our eyes, and it tells us that there is a fire somewhere in the house. We want to get out of that house, and of course find out where the fire is. In our verses today, the smoke is connected with the holiness of the Lord.

“Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).

It is a wonderful privilege to work for the Lord while we are here in this world, and to be able to do His will. However, when things do not go very well, we can easily become discouraged. Perhaps we do not see many results from our work for the Lord, and we may wonder if it is all worthwhile. But our verse for today shows us that we will see results, if we do not give up.

Yesterday I had a phone call from a friend with whom I had gone to medical school. I had not seen him for some years, as he lives in southern U.S.A. It was about 60 years ago that I first spoke to him about being saved, and all through our years in university I reminded him that he needed to come to Christ. Sadly, there was no response, although we remained good friends. However, the Lord was working, and last night he told me that just a little while ago, he had accepted Christ as his Savior. He is now 79 years old.

Needless to say, I told him that not only had he made my day, but that he had made my year! Let us remember not to give up or become discouraged, for we shall reap, as our verse says.

“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).

On Saturday we looked at an old English word—“hitherto.” Today in our verse we have another old English word—“henceforth.” It is the opposite of the word hitherto, for it means “from now on,” or “in the future.”

On Saturday we saw that as Christians, we can look back and remember how the Lord looked after us. In today’s verse, we can look forward, along with the Apostle Paul, and know that there will be a crown for those who love the Lord’s appearing.

This world is in a mess right now, and things are getting worse, not better. Only when the Lord comes back in power and glory will there be real peace, with no war. Best of all, the Lord Jesus will have His rightful place. By that time, all true believers will be with the Lord Jesus in heaven.

“Hitherto hath the Lord helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12).

The word hitherto is an old English word that simply means “up until now.” If we know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, and have walked with Him, we can all say that up until now the Lord has helped us. Perhaps we have had some hard times in our life, but as we saw with Job, we learn more from going through difficulties than we do when everything goes smoothly. We learn to rely on the Lord more, and we learn more of His love and grace.

In the chapter where today’s verse is found, the Israelites were in a tough spot, for the Philistines had come up against them, and they did not have the power in themselves to fight with them. But when they confessed their sin, the Lord came in and gave Israel the victory. Then the prophet Samuel could say, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”

“He took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray… And, behold, there talked with Him [the Lord Jesus] two men, which were Moses and Elias: who appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:28,30-31).

When the Lord Jesus went up on the mount of transfiguration, He took Peter, John and James with Him. As He appeared in His glory, Moses and Elijah appeared too. Both of those men had left this world hundreds of years before—Moses through death, and Elijah by being caught up by a whirlwind into heaven without dying.

It is noteworthy what they talked about as they were there. Instead of talking about the wonderful glory of the Lord Jesus, and the joy of being there on the mountain with Him, they talked about His death that was shortly going to happen in Jerusalem. We might wonder why they did that, but they realized that all blessing, whether on earth or in heaven, had to come through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

On this the Lord’s day, are you and I thinking about the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus, or are we thinking about a lot of other things? The Lord Jesus has asked us to remember Him, and values it very much if we think about Him, not only today, but every day.