SALUTATION

Edward J Mair

Romans 16: 12

         I had in mind the simple thought, beloved brethren, as to being saluted, which is a wonderful matter.  In this chapter, how many salutations Paul gives; and today is really a time of salutation.  We take account of what has been in our sister for the Lord, for the testimony, and for the brethren here.  It is to be recognised and be saluted.

         The Roman epistle, as we know, is the great epistle of redemption.  Much has been said of it, and rightly so.  There is only one redemption: “the redemption which is in Christ Jesus”, Rom 3: 24.  Beloved brethren, in Christ "we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins", Col 1: 14.  Colossians gives us the greatness of the Person in whom we have it.  And in another scripture, the end in redemption is that we have been “redeemed to God”, Rev 5: 9, 10.  And I think the great end in all these persons who are saluted here is that the final result in every heart is to be for God Himself. 

         You think of the Lord knowing every one of His own, 2 Tim 2: 19.  We do not know who belongs to Him, but He knows those that are His.  Every one who has  believed in the Lord Jesus, and confessed Him, He knows, Rom 10: 9.  If you have believed “in thine heart”, He knows.  He knows every one, the whole host of the redeemed.  And not only does He know every one, but He knows everything about every one.  He knows if we have committed ourselves to the Lord Jesus, for our life, and we look on the older ones and the way in which they have been the whole of their life subject to the Lord and to His will.  He knows everything, and He will reward everyone’s faithfulness Himself.  And these older ones are a great example for us.  They have been here, they have been committed to the testimony and the Lord knows everything about us. 

         Urijah lived in a day like our own when things were very weak.  Urijah kept before him Christ, in type: he kept before him the ark.  He said, “the ark, and Israel, and Judah” (2 Sam 11: 11), and he did not deflect.  And the older ones have been like that amongst us.  We are given examples, like Urijah, who say first, “the ark”; the Lord is first in everything.  It says in Colossians, “that he might have the first place”, chap 1:18.  And these dear saints amongst us they have put the Lord first; nothing to be ashamed of it.  You may suffer in this world - suffer loss, suffer things in this world - but here is One who is faithful, and He will reward everyone according to the place they have given Himself.  The ark, the people of God, and the service of God; that is Urijah.  It is a wonderful matter to have these things before us.

         Well, the Lord was saluted by God.  It just came to my mind that in Hebrews 5 it says of the Lord that He was “addressed by God”, and the footnote says He was ‘saluted of’ God, v 10.  What a wonderful Person to be linked with, One who was saluted by God.  Think of the moral worth and the moral excellence that was found in Jesus.  Every day, every minute, He was in blessed communion with the Father - it says, “raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father”, Rom 6: 4.  He honoured the moral worth that was seen in Christ.  One hymn writer says:

         The Father’s greetings, honours rare,

         Are heaped upon the Son’s blest brow

                        (Hymn 350).

He went up into heaven.  Think of the Lord going up.  He had come out of death and He ascended up, and He “ascended up above all the heavens” (Eph 4: 10), “into heaven itself”, Heb 9: 24.  What a glorious Person, beloved brethren, to be identified with in the day in which we are, a day of public ruin and breakdown.  But divine things are not in ruin; they are not in breakdown.  They are going through, and it is a great thing to go through with Him.

         Well, that is the simple impression I had.  Paul’s heart here is full as he salutes the brethren in Rome and we have read of sisters and there were brothers too, and Paul took account of every one of them.  How much more the Lord!  Everything that we may have missed, the Lord knows best, and He knows everything we do for Himself, 2 Tim 1: 18. 

         For His Name’s sake.

Glasgow

19 November 2019

(At the meeting for the burial of Miss M Fraser)