The Beauty of Jesus (11)
Dear Phyllis,
I
would like to preface this letter with an apology. I am sorry for the
overload of mail for the past two weeks. The problem is that there is
just so much in my heart and I have no one to
talk to. I feel like I will explode if I don't get some of this out of
my system. Secondly, my time on this earth is finite. I don't know the
date yet, but I do know that Jesus has a date of departure for me; and,
like Peter, who wanted to encourage believers
before he put off his tabernacle (2 Pet. 1:13,14), I would like to
write down some thoughts about the beauty of Jesus before I leave. We
have two or three more letters and then I am done.
In the Beauty of Jesus we have come to
His COUNTENANCE. To attempt to exhaustively comment on this is
impossible. It is like taking a very small snap shot of the Grand
Canyon, or taking a small cup of water out of the ocean and say, “I have
the ocean”. But with my little dipper I would like
to just say a couple of imperfect remarks about the countenance of
Jesus. Perhaps the Bride has expressed it best when she says,
“His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars” (S of S 5:15).
Joe Carroll used to have a message that
God was revealed in Jesus by His character, His conduct, and His
countenance. I don't believe I have ever heard anyone
else speak on this subject. Perhaps the countenance reveals more about
who a person is than any other feature. There are some people, when they
walk in a room you immediately know that
a big man is here. He might be 5 foot 4, but you know you are talking
to a man of considerable stature. It is significant that the night the
soldiers came to arrest Jesus, He asked “Who are you looking for?” They
replied, “Jesus of Nazareth”. When He said,
“I am He”, they went backwards and fell to the ground (Jn. 18:4-6). If
Jesus had not strengthened them the soldiers never could have arrested
Him. There is much we could say about countenance.
In
the story of Pastor Xi of China, he told about his conversion. There was
a missionary living in his city who offered a financial reward to the
writer of the best essay. As Confucian scholar
Xi knew he could win the prize. But there was one catch. The winner had
to receive the prize money personally from the missionary. He knew that
foreign devils cast spells on people, so he devised a plan where he
could get the cash without too much jeopardy.
He wouldn't look at his face. The moment came when we was called to
come get the money, and Xi kept his eyes glued to the floor. David Long
walked in to hand the prize money to him. Xi kept his eyes on his feet,
but in a weak moment of curiosity he looked
up at the face of David Long. When he saw that face, it was all over.
Pastor Xi became one of the top pastors of China.
Dennis
Turner was one of the finest missionaries I knew in Japan. No
missionary in Japan ever suffered more than Dennis Turner, but he was a
man who radiated Christ. He told of a morning he
went into town to do some shopping. The store owner said, “Turner san,
you must have had some good news this morning. Your face is shining”.
Dennis replied, “Of course. I have been digging diamonds”. Dennis was a
man who harvested diamonds from the Scripture
every morning.
Perhaps the greatest treasure Jesus left with us was His joy. He reported to His Father,
“These things I speak in the world that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves”.
After 18 years of torture and prison, the last message that Watchman
Nee was able to get out was, “I have found how to maintain my joy”. What
a testimony! The Bible
tells us that the first three fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, and
peace. All of these are highly visible.
My
friend Tom Burlesome had been in a terrible financial furnace for
several months. They were planing on returning to the states for
furlough but finances had been crushing. One day another
missionary gave him quite a bundle of money saying, “Some friends left
this here for you.” Tom put it in the sugar bowel and sat down to read
the paper. Some time later his wife came home. Ruth looked at his face
and screamed, “Tom, what happened?” “Oh, nothing.”
“Don't tell me nothing happened. It's written all over your face.”.
“Look in the sugar bowel.” Ruth went in the kitchen, looked in the sugar
bowel, and screamed. It was exactly what they needed for their plane
tickets and it was her birthday. It is pretty
hard to hid joy.
A
man who is filled with love joy and peace will radiate that like a neon
sign. What must the face of Jesus looked like? But what caused that
radiance? Perhaps the most difficult passage in
the Scripture is where Jesus said, “Except you eat My flesh and
drink My Blood you have no life in you.... He that eats My flesh and
drinks My Blood dwelleth in Me and I in him.” (Jn. 6:53, 56). You talk about a tough one; now there is a difficult passage
for you. The only explanation I know is what Jesus gave us in the next verse;
“As I live by the Father, he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me”.
This makes a little sense. What you feed on will be reflected in your
face. You feed on the living Word of God and have genuine fellowship
with Jesus it will show in your face. Moses'
face shone so bright he had to wear a veil (Ex. 34:35). Living by the
Father was visible on the face of Jesus, His countenance was like
Lebanon.
Lebanon
is mentioned in scripture 71 times and 40 times it is mentioned with
the cedars of Lebanon. The cedars of Lebanon were the most majestic
plants in the Holy Land. The General Sherman
tree in northern Califirnia is the largest living organism in the world
and the cedars of Lebanon were the largest living organisms in their
land. There is vast difference between being in the giant redwood forest
in California and being with sage brush in
west Texas. There is something towering and majestic about the redwood
trees.
It
has been suggested that the environment where we are raised and live has
a big influence on our personality. Children raised in slums are much
different than children raised on ranches.
I was sitting in a restaurant in Sparks, Nevada one night, and a ranch
family were sitting at a table near me. Just to look at their faces and
sitting near them was an unforgettable experience. Their was something
about their countenance that reflected the
bigness of their ranch. To look at them you could tell that these were
not accountants working in an office. Just to look at them gave you the
impression of the largeness and the vastness of the ranch where they
lived.
What
would it be to look at the face of Jesus? I believe the scripture
describes it best in saying His countenance is as the cedars of Lebanon.
There is a bigness, a towering majesty about
His being, His personality, His countenance. To look at His face you
realize you are looking at a real big man. To look at Him you would see a
man who was in control. Here is a man who is at peace with Himself.
Here is a man who is filled with joy. Oh, the
countenance of Jesus; how can you describe it? Probably in our lexicon
there is no better expression than to say it is as the towering cedars
of Lebanon. This is His being. This is who He is. And why is it this
way. I believe it is due to His environment where
He lived. He lived in the presence of His Father. He lived by His
Father. He feed on His Father, His Father was His life.
And
so it is with people who live in the presence of God, who feed daily on
Jesus. This was what made David Long different. Pastor Xi took one look
at that countenance and was won. There was
something about the countenance of Dennis Turner. The glory of God was
on his face. And maybe if we stay close enough to Jesus there .might be
something of Christ reflected in us too. Let's hope so.
bill
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