"Leaving us an Example, that you should follow His
steps."—1 Peter 2:21
What searching mind can probe the depth of the familiar
verse, "to you, therefore, who believe, He is precious!" (1 Pet. 2:7)
Precious indeed He is at every moment of time, in every circumstance of
life. He is precious, when we traverse in thought redemption's glories, and
gaze intently on the cross, and wash in the atoning blood, and realize that
all pardon is thus obtained. He is precious, when we put on the garments of
His righteousness, the fitting robe for heaven's courts; and when we
meditate on the interceding voice, obtaining every blessing; and when we
wait for the descending chariot, conveying Him to institute a glorious
reign; and when we look onward to the final day, when the kingdom shall be
surrendered to the Father, and God shall be all in all. He is precious in
the hours passed in meditation on the work planned before time was, and
continuing in its effects when time shall be no more. But His preciousness
cannot be fully felt until grace ends in glory, and faith concludes in
sight.
There is further blessedness to those who revel in the
study of Christ. Attention is now invited to it. His work is not limited to
redemption. In Him we have more than substitutionary atonement. His walk on
earth supplies a model to be copied. His whole career marked a clear track
for the believer's course. It is inestimable gain that we possess this
wondrous pattern. It is indeed a helpful blessing.
We learn much when the various parts of some machine are
viewed and explained. But intelligence expands when we see these parts in
motion, and cooperating to produce the purposed end. Thus the precepts and
directions of the Bible-page are most impressive lessons. They warn what
paths to shun; they teach what mode of conduct to adopt. But immeasurable is
the advance, when we behold the God-man in human form, exemplifying each
lesson, and walking in the heavenward track.
Jesus presents Himself this blessed Example. Moses was
instructed to "make all things according to the pattern shown to him in the
Mount." (Heb. 8:5) So we are exhorted to live and move after the copy thus
exhibited by Christ.
The Bible-page sparkles indeed with bright displays of
brilliant excellence. In turn we see the shining of distinguished merit.
Noble qualities illustriously appear. Abraham stands out in all the
heroism of full-blown faith. He "was strong in faith, giving glory to
God." "Against hope he believed in hope." (Rom. 4:20, 18) His faith scaled
heaven's heights, clasping a promising God, and refusing to relax the grasp.
Behold Moses. He was preeminent in one lovely
grace. Amid high honors from heaven, with much to kindle self-importance and
to foster pride, vexed too with provocations keen with every sting of
ingratitude, he moved with lowly spirit, the meekest of meek men. His
garment was humility. His walk sought the seclusion of the valley.
We see the suffering Job. What afflictions could
exceed his bitter agony! Bereft of the children of his love, stripped of his
vast possessions, heart-broken and impoverished, he writhes in all the
miseries of disease and pain. What weary nights! What days of anguish! But
still in patience he possessed his soul; uncomplaining he endured;
submissive he bowed beneath the crushing blows.
Behold David! Such grace was granted to him that
he won the glorious title of "the man after God's own heart."
Let admiring gaze be fixed on the beloved John.
Love seems to be the very element in which he breathed. It is the very
channel in which flowed the utterance familiar to his lips. Other
distinguished heroes of exalted life pass as examples over the
Scripture-stage. But generally in these one grace outshines all others. All
excellences sit not in harmonious union on one brow. All beauteous features
concur not in one form. Sometimes too the transcendent grace sustains
eclipse. The faithful yields to assaults of unbelief. The meek in angry
temper uses hasty words. The patient gives way to fretful murmurs. The
loving is tempted to desire fire from heaven to devour the adversaries. Thus
in the most noble men we learn that the highest properties may falter, and
cause shame to themselves, and call forth sneers in their malevolent
observers.
If then fervent thanks are due for models which in their
purity retain much dross and shine with flickering light, and exhibit only
partial display, how much more thankful should we be for JESUS! His
walk exceeds all other steps, as the sun outshines all lesser lights, and
Deity transcends humanity. We look to Him and see heaven tabernacling upon
earth. He beckons onward in a perfect path, which knows no tortuous bend.
Sweet details attract enchanted notice. But first let a
grand principle be established. In all His life on earth one mighty motive
reigned supreme. His one absorbing rule was to subserve His Father's glory.
"His food and drink was to do the will of Him who sent Him, and to finish
His work." (John 4:34) He was ever intent to uphold the majesty of God's
kingdom and the supremacy of His law. He lived to illustrate His
righteousness, to magnify His grace, to maintain His truth, to assert His
justice. He died to glorify His every attribute, and to fill heaven with
adoring hallelujahs, sounding Jehovah's praise throughout eternity. This was
His all-constraining impulse. Thus when His steps neared their final goal,
He testifies, "I have glorified You on the earth." (John 17:4) His
concluding utterance is the loud echo of His first recorded words, "Did you
not know that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2:49) How Godlike
is this aim! To what elevation would it raise man's walk! Truly earth would
assimilate to heaven, if every thought and word and work and step moved
onward in the broad road of devotedness to God's glory.
Let advance be made to show how this grand principle was
exemplified in distinct acts. His infancy and early manhood are veiled in
much obscurity. He was content to dwell unnoticed in the retirement of a
lowly village. He thus wrought the miracle of concealing His essential
greatness, and abstaining from seeking admiration and applause. In His lowly
home He inculcated lessons which large volumes would have been small to
teach. No wayward temper soiled His early days. No petulant resistance of
control, no outbreaks of rebellious passion, no fretting violence of
self-will, showed hateful features. Meek submission, self-denying
reverence, obedient love, was His early life. Thus He lived, "the holy
child Jesus," the luster of a pious home, the model of all youth.
But when in nature's course He increased in stature, and
put on the strength and energies of manhood, He wasted not vigor in
indolence and sloth. The first Adam was bid to maintain a garden, and Jesus
ennobled work by diligent employment. This truth breaks forth from
the inspired Word, which designates Him as "the Carpenter." (Mark 6:3) It is
thereby declared that His hands labored. But why is this record preserved?
It implies not that need required thus to be supplied. His will could
instantly command resource. The narrative commends all honest toil as
dignity and duty.
To follow Christ is to adhere with all observance to
appointed rites. We read that when twelve years were attained, with
ready step He hastened to the Paschal Feast. And when the time came that
public ministry should be discharged, He sought the Baptist's instituted
ordinance. It must have been humiliation's depth to join the crowd of open
sinners, and to profess repentance by ablution's rite. But He obeyed. The
Baptist by heavenly instinct checked Him. He knew His supreme dignity, and
meekly inquires, "Do You come to me?" Jesus replies—and it is His second
recorded word—"Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill
all righteousness." (Matt. 3:15) This example is a strong warning. Away with
the proud conceit, that we can live in disregard of enjoined service. What
He, who is all wisdom, has appointed, it is our highest wisdom to observe.
Our Example gives weapons to resist temptation's darts.
These darts fly on perpetual wing. While man lives on earth, he lives thus
exposed to Satan's murderous assaults. In Eden's garden he approached pure
innocence. He succeeded, and innocence no more was man's. In the dark
horrors of the lonely desert, where wild beasts roamed, and all was
cheerless loneliness, he daringly approached the Son of God. He plied the
arts which never yet had failed. But they recoiled, as waves from the firm
rock. The victory is our salvation and our lesson too. What weapons did the
Savior use? He might have summoned resources which humanity could never
touch. He might have used profundities too deep, and heights too high for
our reach. But he plied only the armament of the Bible. He selected weapons
open to us, even as they were to Him. He waved "the Spirit's sword, which is
the Word of God." (Eph. 6:17) "It is written" is impregnable. It shields
from every wound, and drives back every foe. Let us then store our minds
with these all-victorious implements. Let the Word be hidden in our hearts,
and it will be a fortress which the tempter cannot capture. (Psa. 119:11)
The example too in lovely colors shows that our path
should always be compassion, tenderness, and love. These features are
conspicuous in all His works. Doubtless, His miracles were designed to
reveal Him as "a Teacher come from God." (John 3:2) But for this purpose He
might have selected stupendous marvels, filling the mind with astonishment
and awe. He might have shown omnipotence over nature in her every part.
Judgment might thus have been convinced, and the crown of Deity have been
thus assumed. But He chose rather to prove His commission by healing
disease, wiping the weeping eye, calming the troubled breast, pouring balm
into the throbbing wound. Thus proving that He was God, He proved too that
God was love. Hence we learn that gentle pity should be our constant path.
Mark too His humility. The only mention of His
heart declares, that He was "meek and lowly in heart." (Matt. 11:29) His
mantle was humility. He gave notorious instance when He washed His
disciples' feet, and told them that He thus stooped so that they might
follow Him. Thus we are taught in lowliness of mind to esteem others better
than ourselves.
Observe His patience. What provocations were like
those which battered Him! But "when He was reviled, He reviled not again;
when He suffered, He threatened not." (1 Pet. 2:23) "He was led as a lamb to
the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He opened
not His mouth." (Isa. 53:7) Sublimity of grandeur marks His patient
sufferings.
Ponder His forgiving spirit. The tide of injuries
swept ceaselessly over Him. But never did He "repay insult with insult, but
with blessing." (1 Pet. 3:9) The first word on the Cross shows His pervading
feeling: "Father, forgive them!" May this lesson sound not in vain. An
unforgiving spirit is a graceless spirit, and therefore cannot enter heaven.
The question presses urgently: By what efforts can this
likeness be secured? The Bible leaves no doubt. "We all with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. 3:18)
As we gaze on Jesus His lineaments are formed in us. As we study the
heavenly model, we are exalted to corresponding beauty. Let then each day
attest our study of Christ our Example. The view will renovate the heart,
and mold it into lovely conformity.
But let not the vain thought occur that the mere
contemplation will achieve resemblance. Our rough materials need a mighty
hand to mold, to frame, to shape. The Spirit is the converting Agent. To Him
then let us raise our eyes—to Him direct our cry. On rapid wings He will
descend, and working in our yielding hearts, will make them holy as our Lord
is holy, pure as He is pure, perfect as He is perfect. Christ the bright
Example will have bright imitators.