The Exaltation of Christ

WHEN we have spiritual health, we enjoy God's favour and grace in abundance. Bethany means health, joy, peace and blessing. The Lord wants us all to live in Bethany, our home to be a Bethany and our Church to be a Bethany. I have seen in many countries that 'Bethany' is a name given to many homes and hospitals. It was a place of spiritual importance in God's plan and that was why the Lord Jesus went again and again to Bethany. In fact as we have already seen, our Lord never stayed a single night at Jerusalem though He went there several times.

When the Lord first went to Bethany, He went to reveal to His friends there their true condition, (Luke 10:40-42). In John 11, He came to let them have an experience of the power of resurrection. In John 12, He gave them a fivefold secret of the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ, joyful service, devotion, fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, the power of resurrection revealed by the raising of Lazarus, and the heavenly food. Cheerful service is revealed by Martha, and loving devotion and service is revealed by Mary.

Then in Mark, we have the record of three visits. First of all He went to Jerusalem riding upon the colt of an ass to show the real meaning of humility and obedience; the second time, how to accept the Lord's will in every matter however small; and the third, to teach that true spiritual partnership by which the need of both are satisfied; how, after seeing things happening in Jerusalem, He could turn to Bethany and share the burden of His heart with His friends there; and after casting out the people from the temple, He could come back to be comforted and to find rest.

For the seventh visit, let us turn to Matthew 26 and Mark 14:1 to 9. In Matthew 26:2 it says "two days" after the passover, and the ointment was poured on His head. In John 12:1 we read that the ointment was poured on His feet "six days" after the passover. This proves that the visits were on two different occasions. In Matthew 26:2, our Lord said again to His disciples that the time had come for Him to suffer, to be reviled, to be killed and to rise again. Even though He said this a number of times, yet His disciples could not understand or believe what He was saying. Somehow they had become deaf spiritually in this matter, (c.f.Mark 8:31). Because he could not understand these words, Peter began to rebuke the Lord Jesus Christ, (v.32). In Mark 9:31, rather than understand the meaning of His words they began to argue among themselves in verse 33'. They did not understand what He was saying, yet in trying to understand, they began to argue who would be chief among them, or the next leader. When the Chief Minister died the people of Madras asked: "Who will be the next leader?" That is man's chief concern. The disciples thought: "He is going to die' and who will take His place?" I think Peter. James and John were more concerned about their own personal honour than the actual message of the Lord Jesus. That seems to be many people's failure. Though they serve God in many ways, they want also to be honoured, magnified and glorified. So many preachers have amongst their many aims that their names must come foremost in posters and other things. Rather than magnify the Lord Jesus Christ in their teaching and preaching, they magnify man. How quickly these disciples had forgotten everything He had taught them. They were quarrelling as to whether Peter, James or John would take first place.

In Mark 10:33 to 35 their greatest desire at that time was to occupy the highest posts. First of all they were arguing among themselves. Then two of them formed a separate party. They thought they would only have to go privately to the Lord Jesus Christ and get special recommendation, and they would be sure to get the coveted position, seated one on the right hand the one on the left of the Lord. All their hidden desires were being revealed. Rather than ask the Lord: "Please tell us why are You going to suffer like this", they were concerned as to what was going to happen to them, and how they could get something from Him before He went away. In a wealthy family when the father is going to pass away, brothers and sisters often start quarrelling as to who will get the house or the land, or other property. To get the property, they try to get the father's signature. Here it was the same! Rather than find out the purpose of the Lord's suffering and death and rising again, they were only concerned as to now they could be great. They forgot what our Lord had told them earlier, (Matt. 23:8-12). They were told that if they wanted to be exalted they should be humble. There was no need to quarrel, and they were not to adopt worldly ways to obtain honour, they were told in a plain way that if they humbled themselves they would be exalted and would occupy a high position.

How foolish we are to adopt worldly ways to be exalted when God's Word is so clear. It is by true humility that we can be exalted by Him. Nobody understood what our Lord was saying, because their mind was upon themselves. One man once asked another to add "two plus three", and give the result. The other man answered: "Five loaves". Rather than say the result would be five only, he said "five loaves of bread". His first thoughts were on his tummy. The disciples were like that. They were thinking of themselves; of their own honour and position, so, even though the Lord Jesus spoke simply and clearly, they could not understand.

In contrast the women believed what the Lord said. While all those disciples could not understand what our Lord was saying so clearly, Mary understood! (Matt.26:2,12). Our Lord testified of her that she did not come to Him for any favour. It is quite obvious that she had no sickness. She had not come to put right any problem. She just came to prepare Him for His burial, (John 12:7). Mary anointed Him because she was grateful for what the Lord Jesus had done in raising Lazarus to life. Her heart was full of gratitude as she anointed His feet, (Matt.26:2,12) and she had no personal motive. She believed what the Lord had told them. These words had been spoken by the Lord so many times to His disciples and also to many others, but they did not believe, yet she believed, so she came to anoint Him. Somehow her eyes had been opened, and she began to understand that He was giving His life willingly for the whole world (John 10:11,14, 17,18).

How clearly the Lord had told His disciples that He was going to lay down His life willingly for His sheep. He did not want their tears nor sympathy. He said: "Don't worry about My suffering. No man has power over Me. I am going to give my life willingly, so that the sheep may come into My fold." Not a single man believed His words; only this simple woman believed that He was going to die as the Lamb of God. Perhaps she thought I know now why John the Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world."

For the Lord Jesus now told them that two days would be the Passover (v. 2) and on that day of the Passover, He was going to die on their behalf as the Lamb of God. Believing that, this woman brought an alabaster box of very precious ointment, (Matt. 26:7). I do not really know the price. It may have been 300 pence, (Mark 14:5). That may have been the estimate of the price of the ointment. But according to Matthew's Gospel, it was very precious ointment. Its price could not be estimated easily by any in the crowd, it was so precious. The woman may have sold all that she had, to buy the ointment. Generally such ointment is only used by rich people on special occasions, as marriages, and then only for the bride and the bridegroom. Only a rich family can use such ointment, not the poor. The woman must have spent all that she had to buy that box of ointment, and endured much suffering and sacrifice and hardship. Then she brought it to the Lord Jesus and broke the box and poured the ointment upon Him, (Mark 14:3). Generally the box was so made that it had a tiny hole to pour out the ointment, because it had to be kept for a long time and the owners did not want to waste it on just anybody. It could thus be kept for many years. Besides this, it had such a strong sweet odour that only a drop was necessary. But this woman wanted to pour out all the ointment upon the Lord. She did not want to hold back even one drop for herself or others. Some might have remained at the side of the box, but she wanted every single drop to be poured upon Him, so we read in Mark 14 that she "brake the box". Nothing could now remain. She poured it all upon His head that His whole body might be anointed. When the High Priest was set apart, a large quantity of the oil was poured upon his head and it ran down upon the head to the beard, and down to his feet (Psalm 133). Thus the ointment was shared by the whole body. If we keep ourselves under the headship of the Lord Jesus, we as is body, the Church, get part of the ointment that is poured on His head. This woman wanted to anoint Him and recognize Him as the King of Kings. Such ointment was used only for the High Priest, bridegrooms, and kings. Even now when the King of England is set apart, they anoint him. This woman came to the Lord knowing that He is the everlasting High Priest, the heavenly Bridegroom and the King of Kings. What faith! The others heard Him but could not understand Him. Rather they rebuked Him and tried to stop Him in what He was doing, or they were disputing as to who would be the greatest and how to get the highest position in the kingdom. But this woman only wanted to exalt the Lord Jesus. She could not do anything else, so she came to anoint Him, saying in that act: "Now Lord. I believe You are dying for the whole world. You have said so. You are giving Your life for the sheep and dying as the Lamb of God. You are my creator, King and Saviour.

THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST

If you want a triumphant life, a happy home and a living Church, the Lord Jesus must be exalted in our prayer and testimony and lives. Some may say that they are filled with the Holy Spirit, but if you watch their conversation or their preaching, they exalt themselves rather than the Lord Jesus. You find that whatever they say or do is for their self-glory and edification. On this point the Holy Spirit is warning us in Acts 5:30-32. Peter was exalting the Lord Jesus, when He declared how the Lord Jesus was exalted: "We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit is given to us to let us see the exalted position of the Lord Jesus. For example, when the Queen of England was to be crowned, they called all the heads of the people of different countries. All cannot go there, only the heads of the states of the country are invited. If there is no king, the prime minister will go. So many kings and prime ministers were witnesses of the crowning of the queen, and when they returned to their own kingdom, they declared what they had, seen and how the queen was crowned. The Holy-Spirit was the first witness in heaven of the exaltation of the Lord Jesus, (Eph. 1:19,20,22,23). He was a witness of that exaltation on the day of the ascension of the Lord Jesus. Then He came down to tell others what had happened at that time. So Peter says, "Are we not witnesses of that exaltation?" Do we exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in our testimony, conversation, prayer, teaching or service of any kind? We have a share in His fulness.

In this case this woman did not come for any favour or any earthly need. She is not shedding tears because He is going to die. Others were arguing as to why He should suffer and die. Others may have shed tears when they heard that He was going to die. But she did not shed tears, for she knew that He was willing to suffer and die in our stead as our Saviour and as our King of Kings. She wanted to anoint the body of the Lord Jesus as a king would be anointed, so she brought the most precious ointment to Him saying by faith, "Lord, I am prepared to pour out all for Thee. Now You demand anything from me, and I am prepared to give it to you". That is true worship.

First we must exalt the Lord Jesus in our testimony. Then say to Him, "You demand anything You wish from me". There are many persons who worship so beautifully for fifteen minutes on Sundays calling the Lord Jesus "so precious, the Chiefest among ten thousand, the rose of Sharon, and the Altogether Lovely One," yet at the offering with great difficulty they offer only two rupees or one rupee. That is their worship. You have to say to Him, "Lord, whatever you ask of me, I will give". Rather than arguing in your mind whether to give Rs.2/- or Rs.3/- or Rs.4/- or Rs.5/- give what He demands. Do not say to Him: "Lord, what will my wife say if I give Rs.10/-. She won't like it if I do not ask her". But say: "Lord, what do You want? My body, my money or anything that belongs to me I will give to Thee, because Thou hast given all for me. Lord, demand what You like. Whatever You want is Yours, and I give it joyfully". With that thought this woman came to the Lord. "Lord, Thou art worthy, so I have brought the most precious ointment". Just as she broke the box, and poured out every drop of it, so we have to be broken completely, and poured out. True worship comes when we are truly broken and humbled. As we saw before, many of us are like the colt of an ass, and require to be broken in many ways. What a joy it would be for us to say then: "Lord. I am Thine". How much more we get then than we have to give Him. Let us look at a different portion of God's Word, 1 Kings 10:2-9. What riches the Queen of Sheba brought to the king, not that the king was poor. Nor was it like the Nizam demanding gold. In the olden days, if anyone wanted to see the Nizam, they had to bring a piece of gold; otherwise they could not see him. But this queen brought everything willingly, camels, precious stones, gold and other precious things, (v. 10). She brought all these things to honour Solomon, and look at what she received in exchange (v. 13). Solomon said to her: "You ask what you want", and gave all her desire and whatever she longed for, or asked for, beside that which Solomon gave of his own bounty. So she received much more than she gave. So it is with us. We will receive much more than we give the Lord. We learn that lesson after many years of barrenness. If we give our Lord one tenth, we feel proud. Of course many believers do not give even that. Give God much more than that, then you will see how much more you will receive. This was the seventh visit of the Lord Jesus to Bethany and we have been made to see how the Lord Jesus is exalted and magnified as One who is far more precious than anything else, (1 Pet.2:7). When the woman brought the ointment to the Lord Jesus she was saying in effect: "Lord, to me you are more precious than the whole world can be. You are going to give your whole life and blood for me that I may live forever. You are indeed very precious and worthy to be worshipped", (Rev.5:12). But though she had no words to express her heart's worship, she did so with the ointment. When we too believe the words of the Lord Jesus, the light of God begins to shine in us, and we will begin to see that He is our Creator, King of Kings and Lord of Lords and worthy of true worship and we will say, "I will give all I have." We will be willing to pour out on Him all that is precious to us, and willing to be at His feet. Then we will be exalted by Him; and the more we exalt Him the more we will be exalted. "Worthy is the Lamb to receive all power and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour."