“THE VOICE OF A MAN”
Anders M Lidbeck
Joshua 10: 12-15
Luke 23: 44-49
I have a simple thought, beloved brethren, and that was to speak from this verse in Joshua, where it says that “Jehovah hearkened to the voice of a man”. Joshua here is a type of Christ. There has been no other Man like Him and there will never ever be. This is a unique occasion in the history of Joshua. He fills a position after Moses the servant of God had been taken; the book of Joshua begins really with the death of Moses. There is a new situation being brought about by the Spirit of God in His ways with the people, with Israel. They had these enemies that they had to fight against and there are numbers of them - Amalek, and here the Amorites; and it says that God fought for Israel.
The blessing of the glad tidings, dear friends, is that God listens to the voice of a Man, and that is the Lord Jesus. That is why I refer to Luke's gospel. Luke is one of the gospel writers who never saw Jesus as far as we know, and yet he is able to bring out features of the speaking of the Lord Jesus that no one else does. He really writes two gospels - both Luke's gospel and Acts of the Apostles. Here there is the voice of a Man. Think of the glory that is brought about here: “And Jesus, having cried with a loud voice”. Dear friends, that loud voice is being announced today in the glad tidings; it is still there; the sun has not gone down. It says in Joshua it was “about a full day”. I would apply that to the whole dispensation of grace that is going on; the sun “hasted not to go down”, as if to say, God is appealing to mankind, to every situation, to every condition that man has brought himself into in the bondage of sin, to bring him out. “And there was no day like that before it or after it, that Jehovah hearkened to the voice of a man”. Think of that. It says the sun was “in the midst of heaven” - it is remarkable the sun stood still and the moon remained where it was, and it goes on to say, “And the sun remained standing in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a full day”.
Dear friend, the Sun is in the midst of heaven now. The speaking of the Lord Jesus is going on day by day, and the day is not finished yet. The dispensation of grace goes on, all because God has come into a condition to speak to man, and because everything has been accomplished in the death of the Lord Jesus; God has listened to the voice of a Man. We may look from the beginning of Genesis, all these different generations - Abram, Isaac and Jacob, and then Moses and Aaron; and here you have Joshua. “Then spoke Joshua to Jehovah in the day when Jehovah gave up the Amorites”. Think of the speaking of these pious men of the Old Testament, one by one. We referred to it in the reading where the writer says in Hebrews 11: 32, that “time would fail” to speak about all these men of faith that had conquered and gone on in victory. It struck me when I looked at it: just six names are mentioned in that verse in Hebrews, but I am sure the writer would have been able to go on and on and mention others one by one. Not even Elijah is mentioned, nor Isaiah; Isaiah is one of the prophets who is most referred to in the gospels. I think the Lord Jesus had a delight to refer to Isaiah - even once in John's gospel, He says, “Esaias says again”, John 12: 39 - because all these prophets were all making way for the incoming of Christ, all in view that God was listening to one Man.
Think of the position that the Lord Jesus will take when all the saints are with Him, when all that belong to Him shall be gathered to Him. He will be the Centre and He will be glorified in all those that have believed, all to the glory of the Father; death is shown to be conquered in the raising of Christ. I have often thought, and it has been said even in ministry, it was not said to be the power of the Father that raised Christ: it was the glory of the Father, Rom 6: 4. It is an expression of love and affection, and the vastness of the Father's heart, that shines in that glory that raised Christ from among the dead. Think of the victory that God has secured, and here the battle is going on. It says, “And the sun stood still, and the moon remained where it was, until the nation had avenged themselves upon their enemies”. God has secured a tremendous victory through our Lord Jesus. Everything had to give away. In Luke’s gospel we read that there came darkness over the whole land, the sun was darkened, the veil of the temple rent in the midst; everything had to give way in creation for the Son of God, our Lord Jesus, going into death and accomplishing such a wondrous victory. Think of the glory of it - God listened to the voice of a Man.
It is amazing that this centurion got an impression. He says, “In very deed this man was just”. Think of the One that came to His own and His own did not want Him. How Jesus felt that. He came here as Man and He came here to fulfill the will of God and accomplish everything to God's glory; and at the end there is one that is able to say, ‘Indeed this was a just man’. What a joy for heaven. No wonder Peter speaks in the Acts of One “whom heaven indeed must receive”, Acts 3: 21. Why? Because He had accomplished everything to God's glory. God had hearkened to the voice of a Man. That victory was in an appealing word to mankind. It says, “And the sun remained standing in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a full day”. The day this speaks to us of is soon going to be accomplished. One day the glad tidings will not be announced. I have often thought of that hymn we have,
Some guest will be the last, (Hymn 70).
The appeal in the glad tidings is going on till the end of the day, but here it says the sun “hasted not to go down”. God, in His mercy and His grace, is waiting. He is not in a hurry; He knows the end from the beginning. He is able to appeal to mankind as such as being away from Him, but one day that day will finish. It says, “about a full day” - it is a most remarkable reference to the dispensation of grace coming out in the Old Testament. That is the love of God really, because there is a man here, we may say, with reverence, Joshua - who speaks of Christ - who would be a mediator between God and man. Joshua takes up a tremendous place but it is after the death of Moses which is another suggestion of the death of Christ. Joshua has very often been linked with the power of the Spirit because he does not come to prominence until the death of Moses.
We need to see the vastness, the greatness, of the Lord Jesus going into death. Think of this cry, “And Jesus, having cried with a loud voice”. That voice was heard in heaven and it is a question, dear friends, if have we heard that cry. He is calling to each one of us. He is not leaving anyone out. I was struck with a reference in Revelation 22: 17 where we have the word, “Come”: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come”. There are three ‘comes’ in these verses, and heaven is calling to mankind, not to forget anyone or to leave anyone out that belongs to God. The different families, the assembly, what will be secured in the remnant of Israel later on, and every family that at the present time has never ever heard the gospel, each will get the chance to hear that voice; God is really saying, ‘Come’ to everyone. None will be left out. What glory! Think of the victory that the Lord Jesus has secured once and for all. The precious blood of Jesus covers everyone - every family of the redeemed, all these millions at the present time in the Far East that may have never heard the gospel, they will have a chance, they will hear the voice of a Man. Think of that - what a voice it will be. What a cry from Jesus in Luke's gospel.
It is remarkable the way Luke is able to set it out; yet he had never seen the Lord Jesus or heard him, as far as we know. It has been said in the teaching, that like Paul, he would have asked the brethren, he would have asked the mother of Jesus, those that had impressions kept in their heart, all that Jesus had said. We touched in the reading that there were also many other things that Jesus did and said, they happened one by one, dear friend, and none of them would be lost. Every feature, everything that the Lord had touched and come through, and brought about, would have affected someone and would colour everyone that belongs to Him. What a speaking, and you can understand there has never been a time like it. “And there was no day like that before it or after it, that Jehovah hearkened to the voice of a man”.
Through the Lord's help and the Spirit's guidance, may we attend to the voice of a Man, because God listens to Him. God has not forgotten one word that He has said. Everything that He has accomplished and said will colour the day of eternity. When we are forever with the Lord Jesus, we will be engaged with Him and we will listen to His Name and He will have the last word in everything. He is the Beginning but He is also the End. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is just like the sun here, that is standing in the midst of heaven.
May we have a sense of the speaking of a Man that God listens to, for His Name's sake.
Denton
24th March 2024