THE GLAD TIDINGS OF JESUS
Andrew Martin
Acts 8: 26-40
These two men of whom we have read were both under direction from heaven. One of them was aware of it; the other may not have been. Nevertheless, he was directed by heaven; he was directed to leave Jerusalem at a particular time and to take with him a copy of the book of Isaiah. I suppose that would have been the largest book they had at that time, the book of Isaiah. You might have thought if you were going on a journey you would take something a bit more manageable, but he took Isaiah and he had been reading it. It is a very precious thing to read the Scriptures; he was reading while he was travelling. It is one of the great advantages, I always found, of travelling on the train, on the underground, that you could read. I confess that I did not read aloud like this man did, he was reading aloud.
I remember one occasion when I was going to work and a man was reading aloud on the train, and he was reading the Bible just like this man was. Somebody called a guard and asked for him to be ejected from the train: such is the state of Christian England that if someone reads the Scriptures aloud, a fellow citizen would say, ‘Put him off the train; we do not want to hear that’. What a state the world is in! It goes to show that the One of whom the Scriptures speak has not been accepted in this world; not even in Christendom is He accepted. He has been rejected by men - “cast away”, the scripture says, cast out. I find that scripture in Peter so affecting, “cast away indeed as worthless by men”, 1 Pet 2: 4. How can you read that passage without being affected by it? This is the Lord Jesus and what men said of Him, the One who came here. Some acknowledged Him as Saviour of the world, and there were some who found that He was all that they ever desired but what did men generally say? “Worthless”! What a word to use about the Son of God. He came to this scene as a Man and He came full of blessing, displaying the heart of God and they said, ‘He is worthless’. The Lord could never fit into man’s world; natural man can never fit into God’s world. We need to change.
This man had a change. He was reading Isaiah; he did not know what he was reading. The man whom I saw, when someone demanded that he be turned off the train, looked amazed and said, ‘But I am reading about Jesus’. He knew who he was reading about. This man we have read of did not know. He was going on this journey which would probably have taken him many days. His way went down from Israel, across the Sinai Peninsula, through Egypt, and down to Ethiopia. It would have taken him a long time, and he was reading Isaiah, the great gospel prophet. If he had read to chapter 53, and I suppose he might have started at the beginning, then he would have read about many things, including woes and many burdens. He would have gone through them all and may have thought, ‘What does it mean?’. He would have come to this section where he was reading, and he would have read of One, a Man. God could say, “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and be very high. As many were astonished at thee - his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the children of men”, Isa 52: 13, 14. Isaiah, in that beautiful section, is speaking of the Lord Jesus. Then he says, “Who hath believed our report?”, who has believed it? This man says, “How should I then be able unless someone guide me?”. He wanted guidance and he begged Philip to come up and sit with him. He was into what is now chapter 53, “And the passage of the scripture which he read was this: He was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb in the presence of him who shears him, thus he opens not his mouth”. He was reading of One who was here not at all in relation to His own interests. His interests were God’s; He was a Man of another order, “led as a sheep to slaughter”. You think of that, a sheep to slaughter; a full mature thought of One who was here: the Lord Jesus, a Man at the peak of maturity. We know He was thirty-three and a half years old when He was taken. It is not long after that age when naturally decline begins to be realised: not that there ever could have been decline with Him. But He was at the peak of manhood. “He was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb in the presence of him that shears him, thus he opens not his mouth”. You think of the tenderness of the lamb, the tenderness of the One who was here. The figure of the lamb is presented in two ways in Scripture. It is presented as the suffering One, and it is presented as the sacrificial One. You think of the Lord Jesus here, the One who suffered.
It says, “He was led as a sheep to slaughter”;He was led. You think of the Lord Jesus being led. It says many times in the gospels that they led Him. At one point the Holy Spirit led Him, led Him in the wilderness, when He was tempted by Satan and the perfection of His manhood came out in those forty days - what perfection it was! He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness. Wonderful perfection; moral glory that had never before been seen in such a way upon the earth, came out as He was led there by the Spirit in the wilderness. The Lord Jesus submitted to that leading and He submitted to other leading too. In Matthew, “Jesus rose up and followed” Jairus to his daughter, chap 9: 19. There He was led in compassion, but this is not speaking of that, no. You read the end of the gospels and you find that they led Him to the high priest and they led Him to Pilate.
He knew where He was going: think of the Lord, with all that was at His disposal. He said to Peter there is no need to resist now: “thinkest thou that I cannot now call upon my Father, and he will furnish me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt 26: 53); that would have been unimaginable to these men. Twelve legions of men would have been a large Roman army. I believe that Claudius needed two and a half legions to conquer this country. This is twelve legions, not of men, but of angels, and you think of what one angel can do: “it came to pass that night, that an angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand”, 2 Kings 19: 35. But twelve legions of angels! This was not the time for that. The time will come when military power will be used, but this was the time to be led: “He was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb in the presence of him that shears him, thus he opened not his mouth”. Pilate wondered at Him. Jesus did not answer in His defence. The only things He spoke were things that related to the rights of God. He also answered a voice of adjuration, but He would not plead His own defence. “As a lamb is dumb in the presence of him that shears him, thus he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment has been taken away”. What humiliation! He humbled Himself, and man could not accept One who humbled Himself; that does not fit into man’s world. He humbled Himself but, as having humbled Himself, men still inflicted every humiliation they could upon Him. They took away whatever man might claim as his rights as man: “In his humiliation his judgment has been taken away”. Judgment was taken away. They considered that He was not worth a fair trial. His judgment was taken away. You see that in the gospels. They had the sentence pronounced before the trial; He was not worth a fair trial, men said: “In his humiliation his judgment has been taken away”. Who would stand up for Him? Where was the counsel for the defence? Where were the witnesses? One spoke of ‘the judge washing his hands of condemning innocence, the priests interceding against the guiltless instead of for the guilty’, JND Collected Writings vol 7 p169. “In his humiliation his judgment has been taken away”. What an object for our contemplation, to take account of One who was entirely here for the will of Another, the will of God. He offered no defence for Himself. He was unique: “who shall declare his generation?” (Isa 53: 8); He stands alone. There is none in His generation; He is alone, apart from all other men.
I have no doubt that Philip went on through chapter 53 as he spoke to this man. He would have come to the words that there is another generation, but the scripture speaks before that not only of what men did, but what God was to do. “When thou shalt make his soul and offering for sin”, v 10. How the feelings of Jesus were involved in that, His soul. The gospels speak of His soul and His spirit. “My soul is very sorrowful even unto death”, Matt 26: 38. “When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin”. This was no light matter, no easy matter.
In Luke 5, after they lowered down the man who was unable to walk, the Lord Jesus said, “thy sins are forgiven thee”, v 20. Those present said, “Who is able to forgive sins but God alone?”, v 21. The Lord Jesus said, “which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?”, v 23. Was either an easy thing? I have often wondered at the word easy. “Which is easier”? To say, “Thy sins are forgiven thee” meant that His holy soul would be made an offering for sin; “thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin”.
Then it says, “he shall see a seed”: there is the generation secured. He stands alone in His generation, intrinsically holy, but a generation is secured of His own order: “he shall see a seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand”. Wonderful thing to think of that! This is the One to whom God has committed everything; His pleasure will prosper in His hand.
The word in this section goes on, “who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth”. I like this rendering; in the prophet as we read it, it says, “for he was cut off from the land of the living”. That has its bearing too. For Him death was really death. He knew what death was. He knew what it was to go to those regions that were so foreign to Him; regions which had been held in Satan’s power - the fear of death at least had been held in Satan’s power - and He knew what it was to go into those regions; He speaks of “the heart of the earth”, Matt 12: 40.
Elsewhere in the typical teaching it speaks of “a land apart from men”, Lev 16: 22. He knew what that was. Jonah too, went -
… down to the bottoms of the mountains;
The bars of the earth closed upon me for ever”,
Jonah 2: 6.
The Lord was cut off from the land of the living. That is as men saw it, He was cut off. He actually entered into death itself. The One in whom was life went into death. What an amazing thing that is: He had borne the suffering, He bore all that was due to those who trust Him upon the cross. The terrible governmental judgment of God lay upon man; He bore that too in going into death. When the Lord Jesus went into death, in Matthew it says there was an earthquake (chap 27: 51); that is a demonstration of God’s power. That dear sister who wrote hymn 13 looked at it from a slightly different point of view. She says,
Earth shuddered as He died (Hymn 13).
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men”, John 1: 4. But He went into death, He died, He lay down in death; what a momentous thing that was. You might say the greatest miracle that could ever take place, that such a One should actually go into death itself, something so foreign to Him. He knew what death was. He knew the judgment of God, God’s vengeance, Satan’s power, He knew it all, but He went into death and that hymn says -
Earth shuddered as He died,
God’s well-beloved Son.
You can understand that. It strikes a chord in my heart that such a momentous thing should take place, and it was in power. That was a moment when God’s power was seen. You remember “the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom”, Mark 15: 38. It is God coming out in blessing towards men because the judgment had been borne by Jesus on the cross in those three hours of darkness, and then He went into death. Everything which lay upon man had been taken up by Him and borne by Him. He went into death, not as death having any claim upon Him: no, far be the thought.
When I was younger we were sometimes told He went into death as an invader; He invaded that territory. Death was foreign to the Lord. It was foreign to Him - He is the Centre of a world of life, a sphere of life. He is there eternally; He went into death in order to break its power. The power of death was broken as Jesus went in. This was the first time that had happened - that power had never been broken before and it is broken for ever for the believer. We have many first times. When the Lord Jesus was here upon the earth it was the first time there had been One here who did not exercise His own will, but was here for the will of Another, the first time that had happened. It was the first time there had ever been One in whom God’s pleasure was found totally; the first time that had happened. The first time One went into death upon whom death had no claim at all. He went in; it was His initiative; He laid down His life. Pilate wondered because He was already dead. Crucifixion brought out the worst in man, it was a barbaric thing, that men should gather round and find their entertainment in watching people dying. What an unfeeling thing! How unfeeling man can be! The Lord Jesus went into death in dignity. “Having bowed his head, he delivered up his spirit”, John 19: 30. He never did anything that was not in dignity, even going into death, the point of man’s weakness naturally; He went in in dignity. He delivered up His Spirit, something that no one else can do. We cannot do that; He went in Himself. He spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. I do not feel I can say anything about that time. One thing I know is that God was deprived of what He had had in Christ on the earth at that time; in a certain sense He was deprived of it. That perfect humanity on earth was not shining out upon the earth at that time: He was in death. He did not remain there; having gone into death, and His precious blood shed, every moral claim met, God’s pleasure in Him fully secured, He was raised. His life taken from the earth. He was raised out of death and not only was He raised from among the dead but He was exalted in glory.
In the previous chapter in Acts, Stephen saw Him. His life was taken from the earth, but that blessed One still lives in another condition. Certainly, never again in flesh and blood: His life, taken from the earth, is now in heaven. He is living there, beloved. How wonderful to think of the Lord Jesus now as having completed the work. Having borne all that lay upon man, He is now given the place of exaltation and glory and honour. How wonderful to take account of Him there! His life is taken from the earth. Is there nothing then upon the earth that continues? Is there no testimony to that life? We find that in the next chapter. We find the Lord Jesus personally in chapter 7, that life taken from the earth and now in heaven. We find it in testimony in chapter 9 when He speaks from heaven and says to one, “why dost thou persecute me?”, v 4.
There was that upon the earth which continues because the Holy Spirit is here. The Holy Spirit is here indwelling men, women and children. Since Pentecost, the presence of the Holy Spirit has never ceased and cannot and will not. He has not ceased to be amongst God’s people on earth. We may not know entirely when and how and who the Holy Spirit was engaged with throughout this dispensation. There are what some refer to as the dark ages, but there must have been some because He was here. The Lord Jesus says, “that he may be with you for ever”, John 14: 16. Forever! - think of that. He will be with you forever. He will be with us for our time here and His service is to engage us with Christ up there. What a precious service that is. It will not cease even when we are called to glory. We have another hymn which I enjoy which refers to the Holy Spirit and it speaks about that time when we hear that wonderful call. It says -
As, rising, changed, and still with Thee,
We reach our home (Hymn 182)
‘Still with Thee’! He will never leave us. He will be with us forever.
It is a wonderful thing to think of the way in which divine persons are totally committed both for time and for eternity. The Lord Jesus has taken up the whole matter of our sins, and established an answer for God. The Holy Spirit here, linking our hearts, ourselves, to that Man in the glory, and empowering us for the testimony here so that there should be that continued here that the Lord Jesus can take account of which is of Himself: “he shall see a seed”, Isa 53: 10. There is that which He will take account of which is of Himself. It says here, “Philip, opening his mouth and beginning from that scripture”; what it means is that there was something welling up in his heart. He had heard this man’s question, he opened his mouth and what was welling up in his heart came out. I find that a test; how much is that true of me? You go through life and you see missed opportunity after missed opportunity; I do anyway. You think, ‘I could have said that, I should have said this’. Here was a man who did not miss opportunities; he opened his mouth and what was welling up was the glad tiding of Jesus.
It is the Man, Jesus, the Man who was here that the eunuch was reading about, the One who was here of whom I have been speaking. We do not know what Philip covered; it does not give the detail here, but he must have covered a lot more than just to speak about the works of the Lord Jesus in Galilee and Judæa. He must have spoken a lot more than that because, as they were going along the way, they came upon water and the man knew about baptism. How did he know about baptism? To whom was he baptised? The glad tidings had been unfolded to him, how that God had come out in a blessed Man, the Lord Jesus, One who John had foretold would baptise with the Holy Spirit and power. Divine Persons were in activity, and the eunuch says, ‘I have to go out of sight’. Christ is the subject of the glad tidings: then I have to go out of sight. How would he go back to Ethiopia? He was over all the Queen’s treasure. I am not referring to any particular person, but generally I would imagine that the Chancellors of the Exchequer would not be known for humility. They would tend to be people who know what they want, and people are expected to fall in line. Here was a man who had heard the glad tidings of Jesus. He went back a different man; he went back as one who had come to the end of himself. He says, “Behold water”. I like to think that this was another divine provision. I suppose God had made the water there. We read at the beginning of the section that this was a desert. I do not suppose he expected to find any water, and maybe God put it there for the purpose, just to prove the work of God in this man. He could say, ‘If the Lord Jesus has gone that way, the way of suffering and humiliation and reproach and being cast out from the world then the world has no place for me, I must go out of sight too’, and that is what baptism means.
The Lord Jesus has gone into death; then it is my place to accept death with Him. In whatever setting I see the Lord Jesus, that is where I take my place. If it means that I go out of sight from this world, what do I have? I have another world, a world that opens up, of which Christ is the Centre, in which the love of God is known, in which the love of God is responded to, where everything is in keeping with His mind and heart. It is a scene of blessing, a scene of joy, a scene, beloved, where everything redounds to the glory of God Himself and that is the place that you and I can know, and I believe we do know. We touch it, momentarily perhaps, but we touch it. Our experience on Lord’s day morning would lead us to it, a scene where our hearts are moved. Our minds are moved too; there has to be what is intelligent in what we do, but the response is from the heart. There is response based upon what He has done for us, but more than that, response based on what He is Himself. Think of what He is. Such a One, found here in such moral perfection in lowliness, now exalted at the right hand of God: God is presenting Him there as a Prince and a Saviour. He is One who is in the presence of God, and God is appealing to you to come to Him; be attached to Him; find your life in Him because that is the only way of true satisfaction for any person in this world today, to find their life bound up with a Man in the glory. May the Lord bless the word.
East Finchley
19th August 2018