- Joined
- Feb 9, 2004
- Messages
- 17,078
The Silence Of Christ
Christ's Silence At Nazareth
”A time to keep silence and a time to speak…” (Ecclesiastes 3:7)
There was no noise made about His coming into the world. He slipped into it we may say, until a choir of angels made it known. A few weeks after, we hear the trampling of Herod’s horsemen, and we see the babe fleeing into Egypt. Then we hear nothing of Him (with one exception) for thirty years.
This Plant of renown grew up silently before the Lord, and spread out His branches to be immersed with divine fragrance. He did all for God only, and this is true service for child or man. He broke the silence once that He might tell us what He was engaged in. “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
Christ never refers to these thirty years. Why did He keep silence? To teach us the real nature of obedience. Is it not doing everything under God’s eye and for Him, not drawing the attention of others to what we are, and to what we are doing? He was teaching us to be content with the Father’s approval, that the way to please the Lord is by our obedience.
Is God’s approval enough for you though all men should ignore you or even despise you? Christ lived for thirty years with the two tables of the law unbroken. Learn to take in much of Christ’s obedience into your thoughts.
Christ's Silence In Receiving Sinners
”Is it not because I have held My peace from of old that you do not fear Me?” (Isaiah 57:11)
The woman who washed His feet with her tears was a great sinner, a notorious sinner, so much so that Simon wondered He could let her touch Him. Christ did not speak about her sins. He allowed her in silence to come and weep at His feet. There was no ‘casting up’ of her old sins, no upbraiding. Without His speaking a word she knew she was forgiven. All this woman’s sins—and they were many—He dropped into the deep, and welcomed her to Himself. Does He not do this to us? The fountain opened for sin washes sin away, but there is no voice in the waters.
In silence the waters wash the soul. Christ ‘held His peace,’ and the woman ‘feared’ Him. Had He rebuked her, her heart might have been broken by sorrow, but would she have been drawn to Him? His silent gentleness drew her with the cords of love. Look at the woman we read of in the John 8. When Christ had heard what her accusers said He turned away, and stooping down, began to write on the ground as if to give a silent rebuke to them. When He lifted Himself up and looked at them, He did not say one upbraiding word to the woman, but a searching word to those round her.
When He looked up the second time her accusers had all disappeared.
Then He said to the woman, ‘I do not pronounce condemnation on thee, but pardon. Go, and sin no more.’ He did not rebuke her. He was there as the Sin-bearer, and in the very act of saying ‘Go, and sin no more,’ He was casting her sins into the depths of the sea, and giving her the power to sin no more. It was not because her sin was small. It was because it was such that He turned away His eyes from her, that He hastened to cast it into the depths of the sea. He took it on Himself and so put it out of sight of God and man. It is so with Him still.
You may take your sin to Him at once, and He will not rebuke you. He will not scold you. He will ‘in no wise cast you out.’ Some of you may think that God does not notice your sin. Do you not know that God is silent that He may give you time for repentance? There will be a day when He will ’speak out,’ as there has been a time when He has kept silence. “May now be saved, whoever will; Our Lord Christ Jesus receives sinners still”
Christ's Silence In Dealing With His Disciples
“…I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)
Christ did not hasten to speak. It is one thing that can be said of Christ, though it cannot be said of all His disciples, He was not overcritical. How He kept silence is remarkable. How often His disciples did inconsistent, stupid things through ignorance, and the worst that Christ said to them was, “O you of little faith.” Sometimes He did not speak at all, but only by a sigh showed that He was vexed.
We don’t do much good by speaking too much about the faults of others. If we could learn Christ’s solemn way of speaking a little, we would be much more likely to reach our end. He never talked to others about the faults of His disciples, and, when others tried to find fault with them, He was very quick to defend them. When they were blamed for plucking the ears of corn, He interceded and gave a defense for them. When they were blamed for not fasting, He gave good reasons why they should not. When “they all forsook Him and fled”, He was not offended in them.
When Peter denied Him did He utter a word of reproach? He only gave Him a look that was silent, but how it touched Peter’s soul! When He said to Him by the Sea of Galilee three times “Do you love Me?” there was evidently an allusion to his thrice-repeated denial. Doubtless Peter longed to have Him speak of it, that he might have the opportunity of confessing his sin and being forgiven.
But Christ never said more about it than that. When He speaks about His disciples in John 17, you would think these men were faultless! He says they have kept His word, they have believed on Him, they are not of the world, even as He is not. He never speaks of their failures, He just speaks of their faith.
O believer, what a Savior you have! How He will hide all your sins, and speak only of your faith to the Father. It is not that He does not see wherein you fail, but it is just His exceeding loving-kindness.
The very height of this is seen in His dealings with the beloved John. Never man had a sorer heart than John when he came back and stood at the Cross for some hours before his Master died.
John, who used to lay his head on Christ’s bosom, had forsaken Him and fled! But Christ has not a word of rebuke for him. He looks upon him, and before the end comes He says to him, “There is My mother; she is your mother now. Take her home with you. I forgive you, I can trust you, John.” Such is grace. If it were not that we know all this, I don’t know how we could take our places in glory before the throne. Our worst sin will be completely gone, and no holy angel will be more welcome than we will be!
the Silence of Christ - BibleStudyPlanet.com
Christ's Silence At Nazareth
”A time to keep silence and a time to speak…” (Ecclesiastes 3:7)
There was no noise made about His coming into the world. He slipped into it we may say, until a choir of angels made it known. A few weeks after, we hear the trampling of Herod’s horsemen, and we see the babe fleeing into Egypt. Then we hear nothing of Him (with one exception) for thirty years.
This Plant of renown grew up silently before the Lord, and spread out His branches to be immersed with divine fragrance. He did all for God only, and this is true service for child or man. He broke the silence once that He might tell us what He was engaged in. “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
Christ never refers to these thirty years. Why did He keep silence? To teach us the real nature of obedience. Is it not doing everything under God’s eye and for Him, not drawing the attention of others to what we are, and to what we are doing? He was teaching us to be content with the Father’s approval, that the way to please the Lord is by our obedience.
Is God’s approval enough for you though all men should ignore you or even despise you? Christ lived for thirty years with the two tables of the law unbroken. Learn to take in much of Christ’s obedience into your thoughts.
Christ's Silence In Receiving Sinners
”Is it not because I have held My peace from of old that you do not fear Me?” (Isaiah 57:11)
The woman who washed His feet with her tears was a great sinner, a notorious sinner, so much so that Simon wondered He could let her touch Him. Christ did not speak about her sins. He allowed her in silence to come and weep at His feet. There was no ‘casting up’ of her old sins, no upbraiding. Without His speaking a word she knew she was forgiven. All this woman’s sins—and they were many—He dropped into the deep, and welcomed her to Himself. Does He not do this to us? The fountain opened for sin washes sin away, but there is no voice in the waters.
In silence the waters wash the soul. Christ ‘held His peace,’ and the woman ‘feared’ Him. Had He rebuked her, her heart might have been broken by sorrow, but would she have been drawn to Him? His silent gentleness drew her with the cords of love. Look at the woman we read of in the John 8. When Christ had heard what her accusers said He turned away, and stooping down, began to write on the ground as if to give a silent rebuke to them. When He lifted Himself up and looked at them, He did not say one upbraiding word to the woman, but a searching word to those round her.
When He looked up the second time her accusers had all disappeared.
Then He said to the woman, ‘I do not pronounce condemnation on thee, but pardon. Go, and sin no more.’ He did not rebuke her. He was there as the Sin-bearer, and in the very act of saying ‘Go, and sin no more,’ He was casting her sins into the depths of the sea, and giving her the power to sin no more. It was not because her sin was small. It was because it was such that He turned away His eyes from her, that He hastened to cast it into the depths of the sea. He took it on Himself and so put it out of sight of God and man. It is so with Him still.
You may take your sin to Him at once, and He will not rebuke you. He will not scold you. He will ‘in no wise cast you out.’ Some of you may think that God does not notice your sin. Do you not know that God is silent that He may give you time for repentance? There will be a day when He will ’speak out,’ as there has been a time when He has kept silence. “May now be saved, whoever will; Our Lord Christ Jesus receives sinners still”
Christ's Silence In Dealing With His Disciples
“…I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)
Christ did not hasten to speak. It is one thing that can be said of Christ, though it cannot be said of all His disciples, He was not overcritical. How He kept silence is remarkable. How often His disciples did inconsistent, stupid things through ignorance, and the worst that Christ said to them was, “O you of little faith.” Sometimes He did not speak at all, but only by a sigh showed that He was vexed.
We don’t do much good by speaking too much about the faults of others. If we could learn Christ’s solemn way of speaking a little, we would be much more likely to reach our end. He never talked to others about the faults of His disciples, and, when others tried to find fault with them, He was very quick to defend them. When they were blamed for plucking the ears of corn, He interceded and gave a defense for them. When they were blamed for not fasting, He gave good reasons why they should not. When “they all forsook Him and fled”, He was not offended in them.
When Peter denied Him did He utter a word of reproach? He only gave Him a look that was silent, but how it touched Peter’s soul! When He said to Him by the Sea of Galilee three times “Do you love Me?” there was evidently an allusion to his thrice-repeated denial. Doubtless Peter longed to have Him speak of it, that he might have the opportunity of confessing his sin and being forgiven.
But Christ never said more about it than that. When He speaks about His disciples in John 17, you would think these men were faultless! He says they have kept His word, they have believed on Him, they are not of the world, even as He is not. He never speaks of their failures, He just speaks of their faith.
O believer, what a Savior you have! How He will hide all your sins, and speak only of your faith to the Father. It is not that He does not see wherein you fail, but it is just His exceeding loving-kindness.
The very height of this is seen in His dealings with the beloved John. Never man had a sorer heart than John when he came back and stood at the Cross for some hours before his Master died.
John, who used to lay his head on Christ’s bosom, had forsaken Him and fled! But Christ has not a word of rebuke for him. He looks upon him, and before the end comes He says to him, “There is My mother; she is your mother now. Take her home with you. I forgive you, I can trust you, John.” Such is grace. If it were not that we know all this, I don’t know how we could take our places in glory before the throne. Our worst sin will be completely gone, and no holy angel will be more welcome than we will be!
the Silence of Christ - BibleStudyPlanet.com
