Were we in Haifa today, a city in Israel, we would find located in a certain street a departmental store with a very attractive name: “Chefzi Ba”— Hebrew for “All that I desire”. As we are gathered to reflect upon the year that is almost spent, we can indulge in deep satisfaction that God has inclined our hearts and minds to this precious Book, for in it we find ourselves introduced to one who is empowered to grant us “all that we desire” (if we desire aright).
Nevertheless, it is with some degree of sadness that we reflect upon our failures of the past year. These are highlighted when we centre our thoughts on the Captain of our salvation. Such reflections can be of great help, if they direct us to the secret of Christ’s success. What was this secret? His success was assured because he possessed an undivided purpose based upon an abiding faith. The Psalmist, in his stimulating sentiments of Psalm 27, takes us up and carries us along to walk with our Captain, to see him setting his face steadfastly towards Jerusalem. The Spirit of Christ there declares,
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear;the Lord is the strength, of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? . . .Though an host should encamp against me my heart shall not fear, though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after) that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.”
What strength of purpose we here behold. What confidence in the promises of God.
For 4000 years men struggled vainly in the bitter fight against sin and death. At last there came a new man, the first of God’s new creation. By man came death, and by man was to come the deliverance promised; the man whom God would make strong for himself. The means whereby this would be done are indicated in Psalm 21. We read there,
“The King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice. Thou hast given him his heart’s desire and hast not withholden the request of his lips. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness, thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked life of thee and thou gayest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.”
The word “preventest” of verse 3 rather conceals than reveals the meaning of the original. The Hebrew thus rendered means “to go before”. We see then that God did “go before” his Son with blessings of goodness.
Peter tells us how this was accomplished. In his 1st epistle 1. 1 0, 1 1 we read,
“Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that Fulfilment should follow.”
Centuries before the babe of Bethlehem was born, the Spirit was busy inspiring holy men to lay up “blessings of goodness” to be found by Jesus in the “holy oracles” as he increased in wisdom and stature. Isaiah tells that he was to be made of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. At an early age Jesus must have known that it was prophesied that “the Just One shall live by his faith”. That Jesus found an abundance in the word to stimulate his faith is evident. Possessing such a keen perception as he did, the hours which he daily spent in meditation on the Scriptures must have been full of spiritual riches far beyond our comprehension. There are many things which are clear to us because they have been fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord, but to Jesus they were so different; these things belonged to him; he was the Word made flesh.
There are four steps leading to the fulfilment of the desire of the godly man: belief, hope, preparation, fulfilment. In Jesus we see these things set before us. Faith is a combination of belief and hope, and in faith Jesus was rich above all. Was not his name Emmanuel, God with us! There was in him that rich indwelling so necessary to equip him as the Captain of our salvation. We well know that gold is used as a symbol of a tried and precious faith. As the divinely provided throne of grace, Jesus would be well aware that the golden lid of the Ark of the covenant, where “mercy and truth met together”, was eloquent of all that met in him. Surely this must have taken him forward to the day when he would come in the glory of his Father. In that day the saints will put on their house which is from heaven:
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them in clouds to be ever with the Lord.”
“For ever with the Lord, Amen, so let it be.” Surely this will be the fulfilment of all our desires! Of that time, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “He (Jesus) shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe”. Is it possible that Jesus had this fulfilment in mind when he prayed to his Father, “Glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was?”.
Cook at that glorious multitude seen by John of whom it was said, “These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple”. Solomon, in his prayer of dedication of the temple (1 Kings 8), made a plea for the Israelite distressed by “the plague of his heart”. In these days of mortality we groan as did Paul, “The good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not that I do”. The day of fulfilment shall bring release from the troubled conscience, the plague of the heart shall, for the accepted, be no more; their lips will pour forth the praises of God and of the Lamb.
What joy it is to have fellowship together in these days of weakness, but what greater joy to meet in unalloyed peace and joy with those saints of whom we have read so much and whose faith and works of love have served to stimulate us to press forward to the mark for the prize.
But there is not only praise, there is work awaiting the saints. Of the multitude it was said, “They shall serve him day and night in his temple”. Perhaps Isaiah is speaking of their very first work when he cries in chapter 40,
“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. . . . O thou that bringest good tidings to Zion get thee up into the high mountain; O thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid, say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God.”
What joy such a commission will give the saints when they go forth with Christ to comfort Israel, whose new State has been shattered by the great Assyrian.
Said the. Spirit through the prophet, “I will give them pastors after my own heart”. The saints will both comfort and feed the flock. The whole world will be in need of re-education. Millions will be in dire need of the simple necessities of life. Truly the work which awaits Christ and the saints is beyond our comprehension.
To attain to this glory will indeed be the fulfilment of “all that we desire”:
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay