“Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.” Job 42:3
Dear Ones:
In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he wrote, “…as it is written, ‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.'” (2:9) Then Paul deals with the “means” of knowing the unknown: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might KNOW the things that are freely given to us of God.” (v.12)
After all the trials of Job, his suffering and loss, he was brought face to face with that which he did not know of God. He describes it as “…things too wonderful for me.” How can a man who has been brought to “nothingness,” declare that, in what God revealed to him, it was certainly more than he could have ever hoped to understand, and grasp? Paul puts it like this in his letter to the Romans: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us.” (8:18) The comparison between that which we lose on this earth, but gain in the Lord’s presence, is truly incomprehensible, and incomparable. Paul summarizes this even further, and so simply, when he declares: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” But, how does one grasp something of the eternal, that which only the Spirit of God can reveal to him concerning “things too wonderful for me?”
If one is to “catch a glimpse of glory bright,” and come to know the Lord of glory in an ever-increasing manner, the he must begin with the truth, and the One who is call “The Truth.” Charitie Bancroft wrote a tremendous hymn, the first stanza of which gives us some guidance with regard to pursuing the things of God according to the truth. She wrote: “Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea, A great High Priest, whose Name is Love, Who ever lives and pleads for me.” Bancroft immediately lifts the believer up beyond the things of earth, to the great reality of the eternal God upon His sovereign throne, seated in His holiness in the fullness of His glory. In light of the sinfulness of man, in particular the believer, he shows us Someone in heaven pleading for the sinner before a holy God. There is in that intercession of Christ, based upon the power and effective work of His precious blood, that the sinner has “a strong and perfect plea.” It is strong by virtue of the High Priest who intercedes. The intensity of the intercession is revealed by the very word which describes the Son’s set and fixed resolved love for the sinner. The Priest’s name is Love. There is no relinquishing of His commitment, only the perpetual presentation of the perfect, and holy righteousness of the spotless Lamb of God, revealed in His precious blood. Why do we begin here in our quest to learn of these “wonderful things” that only the Spirit of God can reveal to us? The true vision of Christ is God’s way of creating faith in us, so that we can come “boldly before the throne of grace,” to receive grace and to find mercy. It is there before the One seated on the throne, where the Son of God is interceding with a perfect argument and reason, that the very small, and supposedly, insignificant sinner, is motivated by the Love of the Son, and strengthened by His Spirit, to draw near to God, the Almighty God, who only gives that which is good, and supremely Himself. It is there, in that position of being perfectly accepted before God, that the believer, complete in Christ, can receive the things of God, revealed to him by the Spirit. The purpose of Christ’s eternal, perpetual intercession, is to glorify God, and the believer to know Him.
Dear Father, Open our eyes to behold Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad