“BEHOLD”
Alan A Croot
John 1: 29 (from “Behold”)
John 19: 6 (to “man”), 14 (from “Behold”)
Matthew 25: 6 (from “Behold”)
I want to begin by asking a question, and begin where I read last: how would you feel if the Lord Jesus were to come right now? Are you ready to go? Am I ready to go? Am I ready to leave everything, everything, and be with Him now? I trust every soul in this room is ready, right now, to go.
I began at the beginning of John’s gospel - the incoming of the Lord Jesus in His public life here. The Lord Jesus could speak later as to the men who went out into the wilderness to see John the baptist, “What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed moved about by the wind?”, Matt 11: 7. He questions them, “What went ye out into the wilderness to see?”. What John saw was the One whom he had been speaking about, the One of whom he said, “the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose” (John 1: 27), the Lord Jesus Himself, God’s beloved Son. He says, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. Could there be a greater proclamation in this world than that? “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”; that proclamation is going out in the glad tidings tonight. He is still proclaimed to men: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. He is still there in all His glory and His greatness; He is still the Lamb of God, and He is still able to take away the sin of the world. Indeed, the work of salvation is already completed, and it is a question for you: will you set your eyes upon the Lord Jesus? Will you accept that your sins have been borne by Him, every one of them, every detail of every one of them, and that He has removed them forever from the sight of God, having borne God’s righteous judgment upon all that you and I have done? John the baptist was able to introduce the Lord Jesus to this scene in His public service, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”.
Who was he introducing? The stories that come out in the gospels had not yet happened. I suppose the only things that are recorded for us up to this point when John the baptist speaks are the wonderful incoming of the Lord Jesus, Mary being with child of the Holy Spirit, the babe born, no room for them in the inn, His being laid in a manger, and Herod seeking to destroy the Lord Jesus as a king coming to this scene. Then we read of Him being about His Father’s business in that wonderfully attractive picture of the Lord Jesus as a boy of twelve. His parents sought Him out, and He said, “Did ye not know that I ought to be occupied in my Father’s business?”, Luke 2: 49. What does it tell us of the Lord Jesus at that point? It tells us that He was “in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers and hearing them and asking them questions”, v 46. I have often wondered about that. It says, “And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers”, v 47. Most boys of twelve would probably be asking what this meant and what that meant, but I do not think the Lord Jesus was asking questions like that. I think He was asking those men as to their own testimony. He was asking them as to their own faithfulness as a witness here to God Himself. He knew what the answers were. Maybe He was questioning these men to see where they stood themselves. “And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers”.
And none of us fully knows nor understands what the thirty years of this Man’s perfect life upon this earth meant to God. God had waited for generations for four thousand years since the coming in of Adam to this point. What had God found? It says in the Psalms, “Jehovah looked down from the heavens upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God”, Ps 14: 2. Is there not a plea that strikes in your own soul as you read a verse like that, God looking “down from the heavens … to see if there were any that did understand”? Think of God looking upon every heart and every soul from Adam down to this point and seeing “if there were any that did understand”, if there were any that sought after Him. Then it says, “They have all gone aside, they are together become corrupt; there is none that doeth good, not even one”, v 3.
This was the world into which the Lord Jesus came; and what did God see in the Person of the Lord Jesus here during those thirty years of communion between Him and God Himself? God saw a Man perfect before Himself, a Man “holy, harmless, undefiled” (Heb 7: 26), a Man who pursued not His own will but the will of God, ever subject to Him, ever in communion with Him. We read this morning of the Lord Jesus and the way in which He always fulfilled the Father’s will, and the Father’s love was upon Him. What joy, what communion there was between the Lord Jesus and His Father! He, God’s beloved Son, was taken account of, as God Himself looked down, and here in the midst of the darkness of the world in which we are, there was a light, a light which Paul could later speak of as “light above the brightness of the sun”, Acts 26: 13. That was how the Lord Jesus appeared to Saul, but think of how the Lord Jesus appeared to God! How wonderful that light must have been to God, seeing this Man here on this earth. John could say, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. What a Man had come into this scene, dear friend! He had come in in love for you and me; His holiness and His perfection were vital for our hope, because the sacrifice had to be perfect. The Lord Jesus alone is the One to whom sin never attached.
How wonderful is the Person of the Lord Jesus! No wonder He is introduced in this way, “Behold”. Do you know the word “behold” is used about one hundred and fifty times in these gospels? Why is that? What does it mean? It means to look upon something that is very special. We do not often use the word because we do not often have to do with things that are very special; the things of our life are often mundane. But the introduction here was of One who was not of this world, “a root out of dry ground”, Isa 53:2. The Lord Jesus drew nothing from this scene, but everything from His Father - “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”.
When the Lord Jesus was in the hands of a Roman judge, he said to the people, “Behold the man!”. That was the same Person, three years after John the baptist had introduced Him, but it was the same Person, despite having had to do with lepers, tax-gatherers, and sinners, utterly undefiled by the world into which He had come. Had He changed? He changes not, dear hearer, and His love has not changed either. It is the same Man, taken by wicked hands and rejected: “He came to his own, and his own received him not”, John 1: 11. What about you? Have you received Him? Have you received Him into your life? Have you made Him the very centre of your life, or have you brought Him into your life and kept Him just at the edge? Do you have to do with Him occasionally, or has He become your life? One writer in scripture says, “Christ … who is our life”, Col 3: 4. Is He your life? I ask myself if He is my life. Has He to do with everything that I occupy myself with? You may say you have to do with other things - we all do - but do you always come back to the One upon whom you can draw, who would feed you, love you, nurture you, direct you, guide you, care for you, protect you. Think what this Man of whom Pilate speaks to those around him, the Lord Jesus, has done! Think of the change He had brought into souls’ lives, His disciples for a start! He called them, and they went. They let go of their fishing nets, their occupation, their parents; they went. Are you willing to answer the call of the Lord Jesus like that, or do you want to carry on for a bit longer with what is your life?
I ask you again the question, I think it is vital tonight: are you ready to go, or is there something of this world that you want to stay for? It may be too late if you do that. I urge you, have to do with the Lord Jesus afresh tonight and be sure before Him and in His presence that you want to go with Him. If there are doubts in your mind, the One to speak to about it is Himself. There may be some benefit in talking to someone in this room; you may get good advice, but I would urge you to speak to the Lord Jesus Himself. Ask Him to help you to let go; to let go of the world around you, and commit yourself to Him. These men would not have to do with the Lord Jesus. But there was that woman with the flux of blood for twelve years. She had given all her living. She had lived in great difficulty; she only touched the hem of His garment. That was all that was necessary; her life had been changed, Luke 8: 34, 44. Souls had been fed, five thousand men sitting down at once, fed with a few fishes and loaves; their lives had been changed, chap 9: 13-16. They would never forget that. Lepers cleansed, lame given to walk, blind given to see, all these things we know speak of the ravages of sin upon mankind, and the Lord Jesus was able for every circumstance, chap 7: 22. Let us not forget what was said at the end of John’s gospel, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they were written one by one, I suppose that not even the world itself would contain the books written”, John 21: 25. Do you believe that? The greatness of the work of Christ is such that “not even the world itself would contain the books written”. And here a Roman judge says, “Behold the man!”.
Later he says, “Behold your king!”. I ask you another question: is He your king? Is the Lord Jesus your king? Do you look at Him like that? You may say, ‘Well, this is Britain. He was saying that to the Israelites, the Jewish people’. Yes, I understand that. But is He your king also? Are you prepared to allow Him to rule over your life? He is not like the queen of England, who many of us here have never seen, who lives in a palace down in London, one hundred and fifty miles away. He was not a king or queen like that. I mean a king who you know personally, who is involved in your life, to whom you are prepared to answer for every moment of your life. He is a King who rules in an absolutely righteous way. He rules perfectly. To accept the Lord Jesus as your King is a very wonderful thing. You accept that you belong to Him, as subject to Him, that you owe everything you have to Him; your resources, everything. Your hope is entirely in Him. He is not a king like this world’s kings and queens. Our own queen, much as we may respect her and rightly so, is an elderly lady. We do not expect her to be here forever. I am speaking to you about the Lord Jesus. I am speaking to you about God’s beloved Son, a Man who lives in glory, a Man who will live forever and never die, never change: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end,” Rev 21: 6. The Lord Jesus is to be your King, and your Friend, forever. I wonder whether you bring Him into your life; whether you are prepared to do what these people would not do, and that is subject themselves to the Lord Jesus. And that is Lord’s day, it is Monday; and it is Tuesday; and it is Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, Saturday, all day, every day, forever. Are you quite ready for that? Because there is no greater blessing than giving up this world altogether. If you can but let go, dear friend, you will find you will be recompensed infinitely more than anything this poor world can give, and you will find that all this world gives, does not satisfy you. But the Man I am speaking about is able to satisfy your heart, able to satisfy your affections, able to satisfy your earnest longing. He is able to give you peace; He is able to give you rest, and give you things that this world knows nothing of.
What were they about to do? Pilate says, “Behold the man!” and “Behold your king!” They were about to take Him and crucify Him. If you will not have to do with the Lord Jesus yourself, if you will not allow Him to fill your life, I suggest you should think very carefully about these men who took Him and crucified Him, because you may be rejecting Him also. Let none of us be found here as those who reject such a glorious and attractive Saviour, the One whom God has provided for all of us.
The Lord Jesus was taken and nailed to a cross, spat upon, buffeted, and hung there, left to die. That was man’s treatment of this Man of whom I have spoken, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. That is the world’s treatment of the Lord Jesus. That should speak to my heart about this world in which I live. We are in this world and we cannot get out of it; I totally accept and understand that, but my feelings and desires as in this world should be influenced by the fact that this very world and the people in it have crucified the Lord of glory. Let us not find our resource in this world! It can only end in disaster. Let us find our resource in the Lord Jesus because He is no longer there upon that cross. He was there.
As we know, there are two sides. There is the side of man’s rejection, “Take him away, take him away, crucify him”, John 19: 15, and “We will not that this man should reign over us” Luke 19: 14. Then there is the side of the Lord Jesus in the garden, “Father, if thou wilt remove this cup from me:- but then, not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22: 42. The Lord Jesus was there upon that cross to fulfil the will of God, and we know there, in circumstances of great suffering and rejection; as the hymn-writer says, ‘Truly alone!’ (Hymn 268), He was made sin on your account and mine. We know all too well the flesh which rises up, “The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”, 1 John 2: 16. The Lord Jesus had to bear sins Himself, and He did it for every one who trusts Him. How does that leave your heart and your soul? He did it willingly; He did it in love. He says as to those who took Him and crucified Him, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”, Luke 23: 34. The love of the Lord Jesus is so great, but I speak carefully, it is foreign to us naturally. It is not like the love of this world; it is utterly different. I want to be careful about that. I do not want the love of the Lord Jesus to be foreign to you in the sense that you do not know it, but it is utterly different from what we know in this world. It is a love that took us in, that covers everything; it is a love that will never die. Whatever your life, whatever your sins, whatever your sorrowful history, the love of the Lord Jesus towards you, as the manifestation of God’s love; it remains the same, despite all we are worthy of, which is quite simply, death: “For the wages of sin is death”, Rom 6: 23. Let us never get away from that. We must accept that in all that we are there is not one iota of anything or any one outside of Christ that God finds attractive. The Lord Jesus Himself is the only Man in whom God has found His delight - His complete and perfect delight. That same Man was crucified upon a cross, made sin for you and me, bore God’s judgment due to you and me, and laid down His life, exercising the authority that was His and His alone to go into death. In going into death, He has taken death’s sting away. He met and defeated the power of Satan.
Have you ever thought of what Joseph of Arimathæa was given to do, to take the body of the Lord Jesus Himself? God stirred up a man in affection, to seek that precious body. Was there anything greater on this earth at that point, than the body of Christ? He took that body and laid it in a new tomb; such was the working of God that He prepared a man to do this. The stone was rolled against the door and the Jews wanted to maintain their story. Did the story end there? It never could, dear friend. This was the Lord of glory. The stone was rolled away. When Mary comes to that tomb in the morning, the stone had been rolled away, the tomb empty, the angel says, “Why seek ye the living one among the dead?”, Luke 24: 5. That is what we do when we take pleasure in this world: we look for what is living amongst what is dead. Our hope is in Christ, a Man living outside of this scene. Up from the grave He arose by the might of the Father. What does He say to Mary? “I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, John 20: 17. I suppose the greatness of the glad tidings is almost more than man can take in. Think of all we have done, which deserves eternal damnation, banishment from the sight of God into the eternal lake of fire: that is what is due to you and me. And instead of that, God is offering you in the glad tidings a Saviour who has died in your place to bring you into relationship with Himself, such that He knows you as a son, and you inherit with His Son. It is almost too great for the mind to take in. Lay hold of it, dear friend! It is true. Such is the goodness of God; He wants to bring you into that relationship.
And so I read the last scripture, a picture of these ten virgins waiting for one man to come in. Five of them were ready, and five of them were not. Then the cry comes, “Behold, the bridegroom; go forth to meet him”. I am going to ask you again: are you ready to go right now? Are you ready for this cry? The cry we will hear is the assembling shout of Christ; that is what believers will hear. That is like this cry, “Behold, the bridegroom”. You may say the cry here is not of the Lamb of God, or the Man, or the King; this is the Bridegroom. Such is the greatness of God’s thoughts for you and me that there should be a vessel in this dispensation formed of those who have found in Christ a Saviour, and in the Holy Spirit a resource from outside of this world, and that vessel is formed into one glorious and perfect, harmonious body that answers to the heart of Christ. Do you apprehend the body of Christ here on earth? Do you know something of those bridal affections for the Bridegroom? Do you know something of the Bridegroom’s affections for those who form part of this wonderful vessel here, a relationship that God would have us enter into with His beloved Son and be here as a testimony while Christ is no longer here? The bride of Christ.
Mr Pellatt has a poem, which I recommend to you (see page 32), which he wrote on board ship travelling across the Atlantic. He had watched the sun set, which he likens to Christ in His glory leaving this earth, and then he writes of the moon rising and he likens it to the assembly reflecting the light and glory of Christ shining on in the absence of the Lord Jesus here in this scene. That is the portion of all those who trust in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and who know the Holy Spirit. All, myriads of souls, most we do not know and have never heard of, such is the greatness and the glory of that which answers to Christ here today, and the cry will soon come, “Behold, the bridegroom”.
What a day that will be, and we will leave everything, and go. Are you ready to leave everything? We do not get to choose; it is not like moving house and reducing your stuff: your stuff is gone. What you will take with you is your knowledge of, and all that is formed after, the Lord Jesus Himself. Your thoughts of love, your thoughts of affection, your appreciation of His glory, of His greatness as the Lamb of God, as you find Him in Revelation, “a Lamb standing, as slain” (chap 5: 6), of Christ as King, of Christ in His glory and the Father and His love, the Father’s house ‘with its love and light and song’ (hymn 154), all these things which we spoke of earlier today and experienced indeed in the presence of God Himself. These things are ours. They are a treasure which belongs to us and no one can take them away. Those things go on, and everything else is left behind.
I have read from passages which are all well-known to every one of us here in this room. Let us all be ready for the coming of the Bridegroom! Let us be ready to follow the exhortations in the glad tidings to “behold”; not glance at, behold, and let us answer to the Lord Jesus today! May it be so for His Name’s sake!
Birmingham
28th November 2021