A BONDMAN’S FORM
Robert I Webster
Matthew 20: 28
Luke 18: 35-43
Those that were out at the reading here last Wednesday would remember that a prophetic scripture was referred to in Zechariah. It speaks prophetically of the Lord Jesus and says, “I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for man acquired me as bondman from my youth”, chap 13: 5. I was thinking about that: it is quite a remarkable thing - that such words are said of the Lord Jesus, being who He is, in the greatness of His Person: “man acquired me as bondman from my youth”. I think it brings before us the greatness of the stoop that the Lord Jesus took. We read in the Scriptures that He “did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form, taking his place in the likeness of men”, Phil 2: 6, 7.
Now we can understand that the Lord Jesus came here to serve God; He was God’s servant. He came here in order that He might do God’s will, and every movement of His while He was here as a Man was for the Father’s will. He came for that reason. So we can understand that He was here found serving God. God was His object in His life here. He could say, “I do always the things that are pleasing to him”, John 8: 29. As a result God found His intrinsic delight in Him. Another prophetic scripture in Isaiah draws attention to Him as God’s Servant; it says, “Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth!”, Isa 42: 1. As being found here, amongst men, His life was given up for the service of God, and we can well understand God finding such delight in Him.
But then we find that bondman’s form; He took a bondman’s form. We have read here in Matthew 20, where it speaks of “the Son of man”. Now that is an interesting thing, that the Lord Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of man, and for the most part it appears in the gospels that that is how He referred to Himself - the Son of man. We are often reminded that as the Son of man He has a claim on every man, but it also meant that every man had a claim on Him, and He evidently rejoiced in that title of His. Being known as the Son of man, it meant that He was available. The Lord Jesus coming into manhood, came within reach; it meant that the heart of God would be told out and He was available to all. He was going to serve God and also serve men. That is a wonderful thing to think of, is it not? When He says the Son of man did not come to be served, you think of the glory of the One who was God coming into manhood. Coming in and being found in this world, the world He had made, surely the whole world would be given up to Him, as the Creator moved into the sphere that His own hands had made? But because of that place, He took the bondman’s form; He looked for nothing for Himself. He served His God and Father, and then it says, “man acquired me as a bondman from my youth”. I wonder if that speaks particularly of the way in which the Lord Jesus was available to men, and what I would like to draw out is that He is still available. And He is able to serve each one of us.
Of course, He is no longer here. We sang -
…behold thy Saviour,
Seated on the Father’s throne;
(Hymn 112).
I think God loves to show us that that Man that was found here, given up for His will, the One that accomplished everything, is now glorified on the Father’s throne. He has placed Him there in supremacy. That man we read of in Luke’s gospel felt his need of Jesus. Despite being where He is now in glory, if there is a need felt, a heartfelt need of Him, He would love to draw near and serve us; that is His heart. We were reminded yesterday that the Lord Jesus could say, “I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matt 11: 29); that means that there is nothing that is too much for Him. He will meet the sinner at his lowest point in order to bring in what is needed. That is the man Christ Jesus, the One that took a bondman’s form, and could say that He had not come to be served. He sought nothing for Himself. How rightly He could have laid claim to the whole world, the whole created sphere. You will remember in the temptations, how Satan tempted the Lord; he said he would give the world to Him, Luke 4: 6. Think of the pride of Satan’s thoughts. Of course, it all belonged to this One to whom he spoke, and yet He was found in a bondman’s form, found amongst men.
We know that most of His life, a large part, was for God in secret, but the last three and a half years of His life were spent in service amongst men too. I do not know how many days that involved. You think of the gospels and what they record, “the days of the Son of man”, Luke 17: 22. He announces as He comes into His public service in the synagogue, as He takes that scroll, the book of Isaiah, that “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor; he has sent me to preach to captives deliverance, and to the blind sight, to send forth the crushed delivered, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And having rolled up the book, when he had delivered it up to the attendant, he sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him. And he began to say to them, To-day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears”, Luke 4: 18-21. The Lord Jesus was announcing that He was going to become available for men, to serve men as they were, as He found them. You think of what He found as He came here amongst men. He did not frequent the palaces and the religious high places; He had to do with those who were sinners and tax-gatherers. One could say, “a friend of tax-gatherers, and of sinners”, Matt 11: 19. And they who opposed could not understand it. God’s heart was being expressed and demonstrated towards people who were at an extremity. He had not come to call righteous ones, those who felt no need of Him, but those that had a need of Him. What they found was that the Lord Jesus was ready to serve: a wonderful thing to speak of! We sang -
Sinner, see thy God beside thee,
In a servant’s form come near
(Hymn 112).
That is how men are secured, by having that personal experience, personal transaction with the Lord Jesus. We perhaps do not appreciate quite how interested the Lord Jesus is in each one of us. There were those that the Lord Jesus expressed an interest in; perhaps they had even been treated as outcasts. We see lots of homeless people on the streets today, and perhaps we even ourselves would give them a wide berth, but the heart of Jesus was such that He would draw near to them.
The blind man in Luke’s gospel is perhaps an example for us. It says Jesus was drawing near; you think of the man who sat begging. I suppose it speaks of the extremity of our condition that the Lord Jesus has to meet. That is a picture to us of our moral state before God, a beggarly one. That is the effect of sin; it corrupts and destroys, and brings in distance from God so that nothing of Him is known, and His love is not enjoyed. That is not God’s thought for us. That is far from what God desires for each one. And yet Satan is so active. Satan has one object, and that is to destroy everything that is for God, and we would do well to remember that. This man speaks of the extremity, the way in which Satan works and how sin can leave us - by the wayside begging! We might not actually be by the wayside begging ourselves, but it speaks of how we are in our souls before God; what a state!
This man had heard of Jesus passing by, and an opportunity was afforded him. It is a bit like the opportunity presented in the gospel; it did not appear that Jesus was to pass this way again. The appeal in the gospel is that things need to be resolved now and we need to be clear as to that. We perhaps come to the gospel and we hear that God’s heart is towards us, and we heard that last week, and perhaps the week before, and that is a blessed reality, that God’s disposition is one of blessing. He is desirous that we night be saved and is providing the means by which that might be so. But there is also another reality in the glad tidings, that that opportunity is not forever. Shortly it is to come to an end, we do not know when, but I do not think it will be long. That therefore means that an opportunity has been presented to us, Jesus Himself would make Himself available. It was not by chance that Jesus was passing by this way, and there was a man who had a need of Him. He cries out for mercy. That is a cry of one who is marked by faith, one in whom God is working, because he recognises all he can appeal for is mercy. That is true of us as sinners, as we are in that beggarly condition: all we can do is appeal for mercy. God is merciful; God is extending mercy. There was nothing else this man could plead for. “Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be led to him”. Then He says, “What wilt thou that I shall do to thee?”. What words of grace they are, putting Himself at service to a poor, blind beggar. ‘What would you like me to do for you?’ You think of that! The Lord Jesus is able, and would ask the question of each one, “What wilt thou that I shall do to thee?”.
I think this is a particular time where Jesus would draw very near. He would draw near to those that feel that they have a need. There are maybe things in our hearts, in our experiences, that nobody else knows about, maybe even our parents or our friends do not know about, things we keep to ourselves. But there is One who does know. Jesus knows everything: He knows our thoughts; He knows when we are thinking something we should not be; He knows when we are doing something we should not be doing; He knows everything. That may mean an element of fear creeps in, but there is no condemnation with Jesus as He draws near. He knows that He can meet your need. “What wilt thou that I shall do to thee?”. Whatever it is, Jesus knew within Himself that He had power and could meet whatever the need that was there. That is why we present the Lord Jesus, and that is why God is presenting Him.
In Him there is One who can answer whatever need it is. The preacher can present Him, and he does not have to know or understand what we may be feeling or the depths of our soul experience, but what we do know is that Jesus is able to answer it and meet it. Not only that He has power to do so, but His heart is such that He desires to bring in healing and blessing. Think of one who said to Him, “if thou wilt, thou art able to cleanse me”, Matt 8: 2. It shows a remarkable touch of grace: Jesus does not criticise the way the man had spoken, but simply says, “I will”, v 3. He brings in tremendous grace to that situation and demonstrates that He is willing, and His desire is to meet what there is by way of need. So He puts Himself at the service of this man. We should perhaps take such a question to ourselves, “What wilt thou that I shall do to thee?”. The question might be raised in the hearts of each one. We perhaps mask things, we do not like to think about them, we do not like to think about the consequences, but the gospel is a time where we need to deal with the realities and their consequences. We should not gloss over them. Jesus is drawing near in order to remedy these things; He can bring in help, bring in what is needed. He is the sinner’s Friend, and as turning to Him if we have not yet already, and having to do with Him, we are having to do with One who has put everything right as far as our terrible sinful condition.
The Lord Jesus has effected everything and to God’s satisfaction, not for our approval. But the gospel tells us that the Lord Jesus Himself in His work on the cross has accomplished everything entirely to God’s satisfaction, not just for time but for all eternity. The matter of our sins need not be raised again because the work of the Lord Jesus and His precious shed blood has settled everything. Jesus has paid the price, paid what was due. I think of my sinful history and Jesus has paid it all; what an awful price that was. But He has done it, and God has said He is satisfied with it. We know that because Jesus is enthroned in glory. Jesus is no longer in death, no longer here, but is living and ascended. Would God do that if there was any question as to the efficacy of that work? No, He says, ‘I am satisfied with His work’ and the proof of that is that Jesus is now, as we have sung, seated on the Father’s throne. The Father has placed Him there as a witness for all that have faith that He is satisfied with the work of Jesus. He can resolve everything in an instant, but what it requires is faith, “thy faith has healed thee”; the Lord Jesus said. It is a remarkable thing to think of; it brings before us the importance of faith. Through faith in Him and His finished work, everything can be resolved. It can be met, never to be questioned again. There is something we can begin in our experience to rest our souls on, because there are things that come in and we realise that we still sin and that brings in a sense of distance from God. We have to come back to God. These are things that enter into the experience of a believer, but it begins by resting on the fact that Jesus has met our need and effected everything to God’s glory. So you think of that question, “What wilt thou that I shall do to thee?”. He has done the greatest thing for us. He has accomplished that which you could not do, I could not do, nobody else could do. Jesus has done it. That pathway was given up to the service of His God and Father, He was obedient, and it led to the death of the cross. Such was His devotion of love; such was His obedience to the will of His God and Father. It led Him there, it led Him to offer Himself up, “by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless”, Heb 9: 14. Think of the perfect offering of the Lord Jesus, and it was made in order that sinners in having to do with Him, might know perfect peace within, and know that as far as their sins are concerned they are gone, ‘gone evermore’ (Hymn 238) as the hymnwriter says. Well, you think of all that, the greatness of what the Lord Jesus is able to bring in, and He says, “What wilt thou that I shall do to thee?”. He has everything that you need, not only for your salvation but for your joy, and hope and peace. Everything can be resolved. And these things are not just for a time but for all eternity. As He did with this man, He draws near. You think of the gentle way in which the Lord Jesus approaches.
One of the things the gospel shows us is how skilful the Lord Jesus was in drawing near to persons’ hearts. Think of the woman in John 4: she was an outcast. Nobody really had to do with her, but the Lord Jesus sits there and waits for her to come out when she was apparently ashamed to come out otherwise. The Lord Jesus just gently makes Himself available. Think of the skill of the Saviour. That scripture shows He would not seek to cause any further distress to a sin-stricken soul. He was able to bring in healing, able to bring in happiness, able to bring in that which is not offered or found in this world. “What wilt thou that I shall do to thee?”. I wonder if we are all conscious of having to do with the Lord Jesus, and answering His question. This man says, “Lord, that I may see”, and He says “See: thy faith has healed thee”. You think of that, instantly! That is the wonder of the gospel; it is not something we have to prove ourselves for or go through a process for.
As having to do with Jesus, we can know that everything is resolved in an instant. As our faith lays hold of Him we appeal for mercy, recognising what we are. Things are resolved. We can have peace in our souls. You think of the greatness of it. And the Lord Jesus draws near. I would just leave that with each one, that we might be conscious of having this question asked of us, and answering it. We perhaps need to cry out to the Lord Jesus. Sometimes we worry how we say things, but the Lord Jesus knows our hearts. He understands our intentions and motives; we can have it as it were all out with Him, knowing there is a loving heart with Him. There is a desire from His part to settle everything and bring in what is needed. That is not just for initial salvation but all the way through our lives, whatever it might be. There may be various needs, things that come up. The Lord Jesus is able to draw near, able to provide what is needed.
Well, that was just my impression: “man acquired me as a bondman from my youth”. It just shows His lowly heart. We can trust His intentions, His motives; they are pure. He desires the very best for us. We sometimes wonder about motives of others, but the Lord Jesus: His motives are nothing but blessing for us. We can be assured of that and as having to do with Him, we can actually prove it and know it for ourselves. That was my impression. We perhaps get very familiar with what we hear, but it is an amazing thing, that such a One came into such lowly circumstances. Jesus will come again publicly and there will be no question in anybody’s minds as to what He is before God. God will see to it that He is glorified before men. His glory will shine forth from the east to the west, Matt 24: 27. You think of the display of glory that will be seen when He comes out triumphantly and publicly. The Person that is there will be unchanged. It is the same Person that was found in lowly circumstances, making Himself available to all. May we all have some experience of having to do with Him.
For His Name’s sake.
Buckhurst Hill
21st November 2021