4. CHRIST THE LOWLY MAN

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Another beautiful characteristic of the path of life, perfectly exemplified in the life of Christ, is its lowliness. Speaking as a Man Christ could say to God, "My goodness extendeth not to Thee;" speaking of the saints that are on the earth — the excellent — He could say, "In them is all my delight (N. Tr.). The saints and the excellent of the earth are not often found among the princes of this world." We do well to remember the words of the Apostle to the carnally minded Corinthians. "Ye see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish. . . the weak. .. the base. . . and the things which are despised."

It is among such that "the excellent" will be found, and it was with such that the Lord, in His lowly grace, identified Himself. If we would have the company of Christ we must also have the company of the lowly of this world, for it is with them He will be found. If Simon the Pharisee invites the Lord of glory to his house he finds that he must also have the company of the woman of the city. Nor was it simply that Christ associated with the lowly, but He delighted in them. His was the lowly mind. He could say "I am meek and lowly in heart." It was not only lowliness of manner or lowliness of speech — which indeed we can easily affect — it was lowliness of heart. The word for our guidance is, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus;" and again, "in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves."

In the pathway of Christ as the perfect Man, He would allow nothing to come in between His soul and God. He would pay no homage to the objects which men worship, nor take up their names upon His lips. An idol is not necessarily an actual image that is worshipped in place of the true God. It is anything that is allowed to come, as an object of the heart's affections between the soul and God; hence, even to believers, the Apostle can write, "Little children keep yourselves from idols." Alas how often we turn aside to pursue objects that come between our souls and God, only to find the truth of the Psalmist's words, "Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another." It has been said that an innocent man had no object, he simply had to enjoy God's goodness: a fallen man has many objects which separate the heart from God; but the new man has one Object, "For me to live is Christ," and again, "The life which I now live .... I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."

6. CHRIST THE SATISFIED MAN.

Not only was Christ the separate Man, He was the perfectly satisfied Man. He could say, "The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup." The inheritance is that to which we are travelling on — the permanent portion of the soul; the cup is rather what is enjoyed by the way. The inheritance is ours by title, the cup is the measure of present enjoyment of the inheritance. The LORD is the portion of our inheritance and the LORD is the cup; thus the cup is not the enjoyment of circumstances by the way, but rather the enjoyment of the Lord in the circumstances. The circumstances may be sorrowful wilderness circumstances, as in the 23rd Psalm, and yet, says the Psalmist, "My cup runneth over." The taste of the Lord that he had in the circumstances gave Him overflowing joy. Such, in perfection, was the experience of the Lord in the midst of the sorrows of His path. At the most sorrowful moment of His life, when rejected by Israel and misunderstood by His own, we read, "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth." He was tasting of the cup by the way, while looking on to the inheritance of all things, for He can add, "All things are delivered unto Me of My Father."

It is ours to know we have a glorious inheritance, to taste the cup by the way, and realize that the inheritance is kept for us, "Thou maintainest my lot." To drink of this cup is to enter into the blessedness of the inheritance, and in so doing we are occupied with that which abides — that which will be maintained — in contrast to hastening after the things of a world which "passeth away and the lust thereof." In passing through a world of death, the Lord, by reason of His circumstances, was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; but with the "goodly heritage" in view, He could say, "The lines have fallen unto Me in pleasant places."

7. CHRIST THE GUIDED MAN.

We realize in deeper measure how perfectly Christ has entered into Manhood as we hear Him say, "I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel." The One who gives divine counsel as God — whose name is Wonderful and Counsellor — is the One who received counsel as Man. No man, as such, is able in his own wisdom to take the path of life in a world of sin. At every step, amidst the confusions of sin and self-will we need divine counsel. If, as the prophet says, we are to know how "to speak a word in season to him that is weary, we must have the ear opened "morning by morning . . . to hear as the learner." And this again is the language of the Lord. As Man He walked by the daily counsel of God. How necessary that we should be daily at His feet to hear His word. Moreover there is not only divine counsel to guide, but also spiritual intelligence (Col. 1: 9, 10). The "reins" would set forth this spiritual intelligence that forms the guiding principles of the soul. Such intelligence sees God's way with clearer vision when the soul is withdrawn from the influences of the busy world around, as in the retirement of the night seasons. Then indeed the spiritual intelligence, quickened by divine counsel, will see more clearly the path of life through a world of sin and death.

8. CHRIST THE SUPPORTED MAN.

To tread the path of life it is not enough to have 1 divine counsel an d spiritual intelligence, we also need divine support. This too is seen in perfection in the Lord's path as a Man. He could say, "I have set the LORD always before Me," and, having the LORD before Him, He was conscious of the LORD with Him, — "He is at my right hand;" and with the LORD at His right hand, He can add, "I shall not be moved." It is our privilege to follow the Lord in this path, though He alone could say, "I have set the LORD always before Me." Alas it is not "always" with us; we have not "always" the single eye that has no object but Christ. If it is not money or some gross object, it may be self in some form that we have before us. Self-ease, self-gratification or self-exaltation may obscure the vision of our souls; but when the eye is single — when Christ is the one object — then indeed we shall have the sense of the Lord's presence with us, and, when He is with us, we "shall not be moved." In the world around there may be a babel of contending voices, and amongst the people of God much confusion, but supported by the Lord we shall not be moved.

9. CHRIST THE REJOICING MAN.

The path of life, trodden by the Lord, led through death. Not death as making atonement for His people, but as setting forth the blessedness of a life that death cannot touch. It is the path of life through death. Here the prospect of death raises no cloud upon His spirit. So far from being cast down at the thought of death, His heart is glad, His tongue rejoiceth, for His flesh will rest in hope. For the one treading the path of life, death is but a means to the fuller enjoyment of the life. At the moment when the natural man treading the path of death is filled with gloom and apprehension the one treading the path of life is marked by joy, praise and the rest of hope. The secret of this joy is found in having the glorious end in view. The path of life may pass through a world of sorrow, may lead through the valley of the shadow of death, but it ends at last in the presence of God. For Christ, and those that are Christ's, this indeed is the Father's presence. This is more than glory, it is the Father's house where the Father's heart is displayed and the Father Himself is fully known and enjoyed. Here amidst the sorrows of earth we may taste the cup of life, there amidst the joys of heaven we shall enter upon the fulness of life. Here there are pleasures by the way, there are found the pleasures for evermore.

Such was the inner life that the Lord as Man lived with God, and before God as He passed through this world. Such a life was unknown to an innocent man in Eden and impossible to a fallen man in the world. Only a holy Man passing through this world could live a life marked by dependence upon the power of God, confidence in the love of God and subjection to the will of God: a life of lowliness that associated with the morally excellent of the earth, while maintaining separation from the evil of the world: a life of satisfaction with the inheritance to come: a life in which there is divine guidance and divine support: a life which death cannot touch or the grave close, and that leads to the presence of God where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore. A life counselled for us by the Father's heart. in which we have the support of the Father's hand, until at last we enter upon its fulness in the Father's home. Only in Christ do we see the life lived in its absolute perfection. But the life lived in perfection by Christ is possible for His people in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Next Part THE PATH OF SEPARATION.