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CHAPTER TWO

TESTS, TESTINESS AND TRANSLATIONS

Training and Triumph

Jonah 4, Jeremiah 11ff., 20:7-14, Luke 22 and Mark 14

In this Chapter, there is some format in sequences for convenience.

At three persons we look, in order to consider the duress, the test, the challenge and the consequence, and to apply the results to our own lives, the more in this, that ONE of these is the Lord Himself who, never forget, BECAME man in order that for man He might make the provision of power and purity, so making Him the fit target for effectual sacrifice, through which many could come to Him.

The first two of these three will give indication that even the best of saved sinners are subject to some summits or hollows, or at least, woes and complications, however reliable overall. In Christ, there is the splendour of perfection, the aura of sublimity, the attestation of the supernal, so that the trials expanded to the heights and the depths, but the response summoned showed what GOD Himself is really like, and that, even put in our place, what it would be like and how He would triumph.

What a test and testimony is that: never has there been One like this, nor power like that, nor character of this height, nor a work so vast. History discloses nothing to compare: precise, pure, unfailing, testable to the uttermost, true in every point, attesting God in the presence of God as His very mirror, Word and exhibit.

That His most famous moment is His sojourn in the land of agony on the Cross, not only voluntarily but with scope prepared by precise prophecy, implemented by perfect accord with the love and will of His Father, attests as in Matthew 20:28 what man has to forego, if without any reason or ground, he turns elsewhere for his place in life, and forsakes eternal life. His unfailing profundity saw death, foreseen, faced, met like an enemy with atomic power facing a city, dismissed like a child from a Headmaster's Office. It was not merely caned, but conquered, its awesome power overcome by irrelevance to innocence, so that even in dying for sinners, in taking sin wherever it would be given to Him, and for whomever such, it could not hold Him.

Die ? Certainly, since it was their sin He took; but break it, of course, since as God He had no place in His own domain of the fruit of fall. None could reach to this height, explore those depths but One infinite to die in the place of many, sufficient for all, perfect before God, testable as man.

To this we go, in this trio, but first we come to Jonah.

JONAH become testy

a) BOTH TESTED AND TESTY, Jonah became, as you see the torrents of anguish and virtual resentment, that God who would destroy, was merciful at repentance by Nineveh, the city 'invested' by Jonah. There was no prophetic past, review of destruction in advance, however, and the challenge was not for wrath's satisfaction, but sin's extradition in its extremity. In succeeding, Jonah temporarily lost his own way.

b) LESSONS LEARNT as in Jonah 4, are that spirituality is not about silliness but salvation, that piety has place for empathy, and that godliness has its eyes on good, procuring it. Profound as was the work, a vast city saved, yet grace must flow like a torrent.

c) THE TRANSLATION was into a repentant and rescued city, and loving wisdom for Jonah.

JEREMIAH the duress of test

a) THE LARGE TEST

Jeremiah's test is not small. Derided, imprisoned, unheeded and hated (Jeremiah 20:10), his words became source if not of amusement, then of such dismissal (as made confrontation preferable. In the height of his discountenancing (20:7), he declares this,
"O LORD, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed ... "

b) THE BROODING MOOD

Itemising his moods, he notes that at one stage he resolved to say no more of the word of God, but it was as a fire in his bones (Jer. 20:9, 15:16). Before a tantalised surge into releasing the rash verbal splash, "Cursed be the day when I was born," reminding one of Job, and prefiguring Christ, in image, Who WAS actually cursed vicariously (Galatians 3:13), he recovers (Jer. 20:12), to acknowledge that God is He who TESTS the mind and heart, as also that the Lord is with him "as a mighty, awesome One," (Jer. 20:11). As he sought (Jer. 17:4), so he found. And with what pity, the good Lord protected him even from himself (Jer. 15:15-21), just as He had sought, but in vain, for Israel (Jer. 4:1-4,17:19ff.).

c) THE RESTORATION OF FAITH'S INSIGHT AND FIRE

Unlike Jonah (11:20 with 20:12) in his immediate turmoil, he realises both the testing and its propriety, but also unlike Jonah he pronounces his intemperate curse on his own birth, before reality and realisation return from his harassed tirade. Meanwhile, there is no desire for judgment on the part of the Lord (Jer. 12:16,19:15, 13:17) except consequentially for sin's chronic oversight, in His own place; and in Jeremiah 17 you see how the fresh flush of divine mercy is not incapacitated by foreknowledge: time does not capture it, nor does His heart grow stale.

d) THE TRANSLATION God is ever ready for the call of faith, and cries to His people, as He will cry and now does, to the Gentiles (Jeremiah 16:19-21), another fulfilled Gospel prediction! Its consummation is to come with the eventual recall of a large multitude, suddenly, in Israel (Romans 11:15,21, Zech. 12:10ff.), when the blindness is divinely lifted.

JESUS THE CHRIST, Unparalleled, a Perfect Translation

a) TESTING.

Matthew 4 shows 3 tests.

The first was that of PURITY OF MOTIVE, in the use of bread for non-Messianic purposes, simply for personal satisfaction. That would have made His place as man favoured and inadequate, in the realm of rigour of test.

The second was to command ATTENTION BY MERE SHOW and display of prodigies of power, which could resemble that "lying wonders" of II Thess. 2:9. Reality, not enticement, and sight not dazzling, however, was man's challenge from the Lord.

The third was DRAFTING AS A TIME-SERVER, with the devil the ultimate control, his deputed power the short-circuit of godliness. This option is taken by many in the ministry as in II Peter 2:1-2, II Corinthians 11:13-15.

These were a commencement exercise! There was also what man thought would be a valedictory!

Let us refresh our thoughts.

Under the heading, Tests, Testiness and Translations, we considered the application to Jonah, to Jeremiah and to Jesus the Christ Himself.

We come now to the last, who is the First! (Revelation 5:9-14, 2:8, Isaiah 44:6), Jesus Christ. We have arrived now at the summit, indeed more than this, at the issuance from heaven of a new reality for earth: the presence of its Creator in the very form of what He had made in His own image, mankind.

A perfect translation, He gave, of life under test as testimony to the truth, BEING it in His own Person. His temptations as in Matthew 4, gave ground for both instruction and rejoicing, since the spiritual principles teach us much, and the spectacle stirs a vast admiration. He was sharp, perceptive, decisive; and directly using the word of God as a rebuttal, He had no place for Satan, a MERE tempter, and robustly dismissed him!

Another feature of His testing as a man, under the duress of humiliation, now comes to light, before we consider His translation of the entire victory of His mission, and review the work under test, of all three persons chosen. In Life Christ had been perfect, in testimony pure, in power apt, and He had done all ... but die. This is harsh and judgmental in nature; and it was contrary to His very Being, who gave life from eternal life (I John 1). Here was a seeming shrinking in stature, which only profundity and purity could bear.

HIS WORK MY WAY, OR HIS WAY! Luke 22:41ff..

Gethsemane ... A special form of agony now came to see if it could torment Him out of His mind, out of His way, out of His duty. In this, it is a mountain of marvels, to be regarded by man, a joy to witness and a performance to acclaim.

Death knocked. How would it be answered, on the night before, when horrors of ignoble, infamous, blasphemous, harsh, over-riding, treacherous man came to light to see if they could obliterate His light in their darkness. It is one thing to know what to do. It is another to do it!

Famously, Christ in the flesh, though eternal deity in His Person, put away longing, naturalness, desire and a sense of horror as He was stepping into the pit of vicarious sin. Even to the point of anguish, sweat like great drops of blood forming on His brow at Gethsemane, He yet gained the inner victory, and later published the crucial results in the resurrection, manifest in word and deed, both in His body and behaviour, His Spirit and His words.

TRANSLATION

Thus, these earlier victories and many more were translated in full into

i) The Confrontation (Mark 14:61-65)

ii) The Crucifixion (Matthew 26) and its mixture of perfidious, invidious scorn and suffering, rampant rebukes and acrid mockery, misunderstanding's masterpiece, the elixir of man's vengeance, for its time.

iii) The Abolition of Death (John 11:25-26, II Timothy 1:10). Time may pass, but triumph will be applied for ALL time, past the roll-call of current time, in the consummation of life, the resurrection of the body as with Christ (I John 3:1-3), and through Him. Spiritually complete as planned (Hebrews 12:23-24) are His people at that time, the name of the Lord on each freely loving brow (and here, there is no other kind, kith nor kin!), as in Revelation 22:4-5, 5:12-13.

REVIEW

Jonah became testy - but did the basic job with magnificent success.

Jeremiah felt it keenly, stampeded for a moment in outrageous licence, but realising his test, self-chastened, he recoiled from a sense of maddening exposure and an explosive seeming cross, to normal faith and in patience, became a type of Christ, in persistent continuity like a lamb led to the slaughter, this in the midst of the long years of successive appeal to the nation, mockery, longsuffering and hope for a land to be lost.

Yet it was also to be regained after many extremities, all needless, required for the heedless. Though vexed not a little, as one raked with machine gun fire, yet Jeremiah told it to the end.

Though it is intensely sad, yet it illustrates the patience, perseverance and determination of God, and the sublime intensity of His own mercy, culminating in the return of the Messiah and the restoration of Israel in the VERY ONE whom they discarded. Thus do we find in such sites in Jeremiah as 23:5-8, 4:1-2, 13:15-17, 16:14-18. Further, the only hope of the Gentiles persecutors, when it comes to His day, is likewise in repentance for their cruelties and their sins, in faith in Him (Jeremiah 12:14-17)! Though Jeremiah sighed, complained with anguish, and remonstrated (Jeremiah 15:10ff., 20:ff., esp. 20:7;), yet he did not collapse.

Jesus alone personally translated truth perfectly, into triumph both temporal and eternal, imperial and elemental, and freely swallowed up death itself in victory (I Corinthians 15:54), and forever (Isaiah 25:8), its jaws finding no sin of His on which to close its jaws in His vicarious death for sinners. Supernal without change, amid the infernal, having "abolished death and brought life and immortality to life," In Him was wrought the greatest production of all time surpassing even the creation.

Therefore in Him, we believers rest (Hebrews 4), this being power with personal involvement, salvation through Christ's suffering, His death, the gift of God with infinite portent. Naturally, this does not annul our mode of procedure in weekly rest day, going back to creation (Exodus 20:11, Colossians 2:17). That was not a futuristic matter, the concern in Colossians, but the time code for living from the very first, from the past. Further, here in Christ's triumph was no time code, but past all time, death itself, both breached and broken, in Him conferring life.

It held many results. Thus it also set the rest day anew from the sixth day, acknowledging creation, to the definitive resurrection Sunday, acknowledging salvation. This was wrought by the work of this same Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, He whose works have summoned life, giving a new memorial for man. The sixth day Sabbath annulled ? Anulled! It is death itself which is annulled, not the foundational creation prescription, for living!

That, moved to Sunday, merely acknowledges that in Christ is the newest and greatest work of God, now like the creation completed, a labour from which He then rested: crucifixion of His incarnate body followed by that same body's resurrection (Romans 6:10-11, Hebrews 9:12-28).. Every week thus is its memorial, each Sunday in itself attesting it without cease, our rest, now in the greatest work of God, complete in Christ (Hebrews 2:10-15, 4:1-3, Colossians 2:10, Ephesians 1:6,11). Here we may notice three aspects of His work.

Firstly, Death is abolished. It is no part of what is to be for the Christian, who in the same day as physical death, before the Lord comes, is with Him, for the death of the spirit is never accomplished, just as the reclothing with the resurrected body is to come (John 11, II Corinthians 5). Eternal life is now, as each believer is sealed by the Spirit, vitalised and refreshed (Acts 3:19ff., Ephesians 1:11,13, Romans 8:9-10).

Secondly, Established is rest every seven days, this a mode of action is affirmed, as we are still creations to which the creation call applies, and Colossians 2:14-17 is talking about many kinds of sabbaths (MT), and the foreshadowing of things to come; but THE SABBATH was a creation ordinance from Exodus 20. Applying to the past, to our natures, it has nothing to do with what is no longer relevant because of the future. What is not fulfilled remains (Matthew 5:17-20), and our creation is not fulfilled, but still operative, and our removal to the time when prophecies pass, being fulfilled, is not yet (I Corinthians 13:6).

Thirdly, spiritual rest, as in Hebrews 4, is actualised, since all Christ's work to secure salvation, is done. It is not that people could not before rest in Him, as David did (Psalm 37:1-12, Psalm 23). but now the rest is affiliated to no preparation, for Christ has done all, invited all (Matthew 11:25-30).

Since HE has done all the works, translate this by faith into rest then in Him; and in labours numerous, act not as gods, with no limits or directions, but as redeemed, delighted to follow the beneficent rules as in I Thessalonians 5, and teaching as in Matthew 5:17-20, and rightly dividing the word of God, to find profit in all scripture (II Timothy 3:16), both for living and for teaching, for believing and for acting. To the Lord, keeping His word is a lovely thing, and in love He deeply indwells where it is followed by faith (John 14:21-23).

Thus the entry into the Promised Land, failure in which prevented entering into His rest, did not relate to the seven-day rest, which went on regardless, but to a spiritual rest which became consummate in Christ, for those who entered the kingdom of heaven, just as Israel DID NOT enter the Promised Land, trapped out of it by unbelief, for an entire generation.

Powerful indeed is the parallel indicated in Hebrews 3:7ff., but it expressly states that this is not applicable in reverse. Thus when at last they DID enter the Promised Land, this did not constitute the rest which is critical, essential for all, for says Hebrews 4:8, IF JOSHUA had given them rest (leading them into the Promised Land in the next generation), then there would be no set rest for a time yet to come (Psalm 95 cited in Hebrews). The true rest is, as distinct from the symbol, entering into a redeemed, receptive, inspected, justified, surrendered, saved, directed, responsive relationship with the Lord, and abiding in Him. This the Spirit applies, enlivens and seals (Ephesians 1).

How delightful it is to know that if you trust in the Lord, and abide, and feed on His faithfulness, delight yourself in Him, then He will give YOU the desires of your heart. How gracious, how splendidly beautiful is this, not craving or raving but relish in rest!

In Psalm 37:7 you are exhorted to rest in the Lord; but in Matthew 11, Christ telling them to come to Him, in labour and heavy laden, and He will GIVE them rest. Such rest and peace is part of the property of the kingdom of heaven, the New Testament reality, figured in the entry of Israel into the Promised Land. THIS heavenly land cannot be stripped from us who believe, and already we are citizens of it (Philippians 3:20), with this eternal inheritance when all is past (Ephesians 1:11), already assigned. Death, in the vast work of Christ, for those who by redemption are His, is made irrelevant. Indeed, it is cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14), intractably interred for ever!

What a magnificent inheritance has Jesus Christ achieved and paid for, where not only is life eternal, and the knowledge of God now natural in intimacy, but death itself has been buried forever!