THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Gospel according to Luke
Message Two
The Man-Savior’s God-man Living and Ministry
Scripture Reading: Luke 1:35; 2:40, 49, 51-52; 3:21-22; 5:15-16; 9:51-56; 10:25-42; 23:42-43
I. The Gospel of Luke unveils the God-man living of the Man-Savior as typified by the meal offering—Lev. 2:1-16; Phil. 2:6-8:
A. The conception of the Savior was God’s incarnation (the mingling of God and man as typified by the meal offering), constituted not only by the divine power but also of the divine essence added to the human essence, thus producing the God-man of two natures—divinity and humanity—Lev. 2:4-5; John 1:14; Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35:
1. The Man-Savior is a genuine man with the real human nature and the perfect human virtues for the qualification to be man’s Savior—1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 2:14; cf. John 19:5.
2. He is also the complete God with the true divine nature and the excellent divine attributes to empower and ensure His ability to save man—Col. 2:9; 1 John 1:7; Acts 20:28.
3. Christ expressed in His humanity the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues, by which He attracted and captivated people, not by living His human life in the flesh but by living His divine life in resurrection—Matt. 4:18-22; 19:13-15; Mark 16:7; Luke 8:1-3.
B. Fine flour, the main element of the meal offering, signifies Christ’s humanity, which is fine, perfect, tender, balanced, and right in every way, with no excess and no deficiency; this signifies the beauty and excellence of Christ’s human living and daily walk—Lev. 2:1; Luke 23:14:
1. He grew up in a family that was filled with the knowledge and love of God’s holy Word, as indicated by Mary’s receiving of God’s word as the Lord’s slave and her poetic praise filled with God’s word—1:37-38, 46-55.
2. While He was growing in stature as a man, He became strong in spirit; He was filled with the wisdom of His deity and needed the grace of God in His humanity— 2:40, 52; cf. 1:80.
3. At the age of twelve He cared for His Father’s will, but at the same time He was subject to His parents— 2:49, 51.
4. He advanced in grace before God because He was growing in the expression of God according to God’s desire, and He advanced in grace before men because He was growing in the divine attributes manifested in the human virtues; hence, He was growing as a God-man before God and men—v. 52.
5. He spoke words of grace and showed His steadiness under the threatening of His opposers—4:21-22, 28-30.
6. He was the exulting One and the weeping One; He exulted in the Holy Spirit for the will of God and wept for the city of Jerusalem—10:21; 19:41.
7. When the Samaritans rejected Him, He desired to save them, and when people welcomed Him, He withdrew in the wilderness and prayed—9:51-56; 5:15-16.
C. The oil of the meal offering signifies the Spirit of God as the divine element of Christ—Lev. 2:1; Luke 1:35; 3:22; 4:18; Heb. 1:9:
1. He was born of the Spirit, and the Spirit descended upon Him as a dove—Luke 1:35; 3:21-22.
2. He was full of the Spirit, led by the Spirit, in the power of the Spirit, and anointed with the Spirit— 4:1, 14, 18.
D. The frankincense in the meal offering signifies the fragrance of Christ in His resurrection; that the frankincense was put on the fine flour signifies that Christ’s humanity bears the aroma of His resurrection—Lev. 2:1-2:
1. When the Lord was being arrested, Peter cut off the ear of the high priest’s slave, but the Lord healed his ear and stopped the sword—Luke 22:50-51; John 18:11.
2. Christ’s Spirit-filled and resurrection-saturated living was a satisfying fragrance to God, giving God rest, peace, joy, enjoyment, and full satisfaction—Luke 3:22; 4:1; Lev. 2:1-2.
E. Salt, with which the meal offering was seasoned, signifies the death, or the cross, of Christ; salt functions to season, kill germs, and preserve—v. 13:
1. The Lord Jesus always lived a life of being salted, a life under the cross—Luke 12:49-50.
2. Even before He was actually crucified, Christ daily lived a crucified life, denying Himself and His natural life and living the Father’s life in resurrection as a man of prayer; prayer is the real denial of the self—3:21; 5:16; 6:12-13; 9:28-29; 23:34, 46.
F. The meal offering typifies our Christian life as a duplication of Christ’s God-man living and our church life as the corporate living by the perfected God-men—Lev. 2:4; Psa. 92:10; 1 Pet. 2:21; Rom. 8:2-3, 11, 13:
1. If we eat Christ as the meal offering, we will become what we eat and live by what we eat—John 6:57, 63; 1 Cor. 10:17; Phil. 1:19-21a.
2. The humanity of Jesus is in the Spirit of Jesus; if we drink of the Spirit of Jesus and feed upon the humanity of Jesus, we will become “Jesusly” human—John 6:57; 7:37-39; Acts 16:7; 1 Cor. 12:3b, 13; Num. 20:8.
3. By exercising our spirit to touch the Spirit consolidated in the Word, we eat the human life and living of Jesus, we are constituted with Jesus, and the human living of Jesus becomes our human living—Eph. 6:17-18; Jer. 15:16; Gal. 6:17; Phil. 1:19-21a; cf. Isa. 7:14-15.
4. Christ’s life and our individual Christian life issue in a totality—the church life as a corporate meal offering; God desires that every local church be a meal offering to satisfy Him and fully supply the saints day by day—Lev. 2:1-2, 4; 1 Cor. 12:12, 24; 10:17; cf. Psa. 36:8-9; Rev. 2:7; 22:1-2a.
II. The Gospel of Luke unveils the ministry of the Man- Savior in His human virtues with His divine attributes—ch. 7; 10:25-37:
A. The Man-Savior healed the slave of the centurion, who saw that the Lord was a man under authority with the word of authority—7:1-10; Matt. 8:16:
1. In the Man-Savior’s human virtue, as a man under authority, He was willing to go to the home of the centurion—Luke 7:6.
2. In the Man-Savior’s divine attribute, He spoke the word of authority to heal the centurion’s slave— vv. 7-10.
B. The Man-Savior showed pity to a weeping widow by raising up her only son—vv. 11-17; 8:42; 9:38:
1. In His human virtue of compassion, the Man-Savior spoke to the widow and touched the bier of the “only son of his mother”; [note: He also healed the daughter of Jairus, his “only daughter”, and cast a demon out of a man’s son, his “only child”]—v. 12; 8:42; 9:38.
2. His divine attributes were expressed in His human virtues by His raising the young man from the dead—2:52; Mark 6:34.
C. The Man-Savior forgave a sinful woman—7:36-50; 1 John 2:12; Acts 10:43:
1. The Man-Savior’s human virtues of affection, kindness, patience, mercy, and understanding were displayed in His fellowship with this woman—vv. 48, 50.
2. His divine attributes, especially the attributes of divine authority to forgive a person’s sins and His giving of peace to the forgiven sinner, were also displayed—vv. 49-50.
D. The Man-Savior presented the parable of the good Samaritan to signify the expression of His divine attributes with His human virtues—10:25-37; Mark 6:34:
1. The Man-Savior, in His lost-one-seeking and sinner-saving ministry journey, came down to the place where the wounded victim of the Judaistic robbers lay in his miserable and dying condition—Luke 19:10.
2. When the Man-Savior saw him, He was moved with compassion in His humanity with His divinity and rendered him tender healing and saving care, fully meeting his urgent need—10:33-35.
E. The Man-Savior presented the parable of the prodigal son, showing His shepherding, seeking, and saving spirit with the Father’s loving, forgiving, and compassionate heart—15:11-32; cf. 9:55-56:
1. A seeking saint should be poor in spirit and pure in heart, and a repentant believer should always have a willing spirit for the things of the Lord and for the church—Matt. 5:3, 8; Psa. 51:12; cf. Phil. 2:20-22.
2. We must follow the steps of the processed Triune God in His seeking and saving fallen people according to His heavenly ministry of shepherding people with His saving love—Luke 15.
F. The Man-Savior acted in His human virtues with the divine attributes in His word to the criminal on the cross—23:42-43; Mark 6:34:
1. When Christ was being crucified, one of the two criminals who were crucified with Him said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom”—Luke 23:42.
2. Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, Today you shall be with Me in Paradise”; this shows the divine attribute of His eternal and indiscriminate love expressed through His cherishing human virtue—v. 43.
III. In order to be one with the Man-Savior in His God-man living and ministry, we must sit at His feet and listen to His word so that we may be infused with His life for the expression of God and with His desire for our service to God unto the building of God—10:38-42; 1:53; 6:47-48.
Ministry Excerpts:
A GOD-MAN LIVING
The Man-Savior’s living was a God-man living. When He was on the earth, the Lord Jesus lived a God-man. This living is a fact recorded in the Bible. (Life-study of Luke, msg. 60)
The Conception of the Man-savior
The conception of the Savior was God’s incarnation (John 1:14), constituted not only by the divine power, but also of the divine essence added to the human essence, hence producing the God-man of two natures—divinity and humanity. Through this, God joined Himself to humanity that He might be manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16) and might be a Man-Savior (Luke 2:11). (Life-study of Luke, msg. 3)
A Genuine Man
The Man-Savior is a genuine man with the real human nature and the perfect human virtues. Here we use three adjectives to describe the Man-Savior in His humanity: genuine, real, and perfect. As a man, the Man-Savior is genuine. His nature is real; that is, He was a real human being, not a phantom. Furthermore, the Man-Savior’s human virtues are perfect. In order to be qualified to be man’s Savior, the Lord Jesus had to be a genuine man with a real human nature and the perfect human virtues. Because He is genuine as a man, real in His human nature, and perfect in His human virtues, He is qualified to be the Man-Savior.
The Complete God
The Man-Savior was not only a genuine man; He was also the complete God. As the complete God, He had the true divine nature and the excellent divine attributes.
We would emphasize the fact that the Man-Savior is both a genuine man and the complete God. He is a genuine man with the real human nature and the perfect human virtues, and He is the complete God with the true divine nature and the excellent divine attributes. We have seen that with respect to His humanity the Man-Savior is genuine, real, and perfect. Now we need to see that with respect to His divinity He is complete, true, and excellent. He is the complete God, He has the true divine nature, and He has the excellent divine attributes. His human virtues are perfect, but His divine attributes are excellent; His attributes are superior, surpassing.
The Man-Savior’s divine nature and excellent divine attributes empower and ensure His ability to save man. In His humanity there is the capacity to save us, the capacity for salvation. But this capacity is empowered and ensured by His divinity. His ability to save us is guaranteed by His divinity. (Life-study of Luke, msg. 61)
Expressing in His Humanity the Bountiful God in His Rich Attributes
In His full ministry in the first stage of His incarnation, Christ also expressed in His humanity the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues. No one can deny that the human virtues of Christ were aromatic; even when non-Christians read the four Gospels, they sense that the Jesus recorded in these books was a sweet and fragrant One, whose virtues were aromatic. This is because He expressed in His humanity the bountiful God in His rich attributes.
Christ expressed His aromatic virtues by which He attracted and captivated people, not by living His human life in the flesh but by living His divine life in resurrection. He was in the flesh, but He did not live by His human life in His flesh; rather, He lived by His divine life in His resurrection. Today, as God-men, by which life do we live? No doubt, we are all in the flesh. Nevertheless, we can get out of the realm of the flesh and enter into resurrection to live by the divine life in resurrection, that is, in the divine and mystical realm.
Today the kind of living we have depends upon the kind of life by which we live in our physical body. We must not live by the human life but by the divine life. Galatians 2:20 says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” This means that we should not live the life of the old “I” but the life of the new “I.” (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations”, msg. 1)
Fine Flour
The meal offering is made of fine flour. Fine flour, therefore, is the main element of the meal offering. This fine flour signifies Christ’s humanity.
Christ’s humanity is fine, but our humanity is rough and coarse. We may appear outwardly to be gentle and nice, but actually we are rough. Among the human race Christ is the only one who is gentle; only He is the fine flour. With Him there is no roughness. His humanity is fine, perfect, balanced, and right in every way. From every angle—front and back, top and bottom, right and left—He is right.
The fine flour is perfect in fineness, evenness, tenderness, and gentleness and is fully balanced, with no excess and no deficiency. This signifies the beauty and excellence of Christ’s human living and daily walk. Christ’s humanity is perfect. There is no comparison between His humanity and our natural, fallen humanity. (Life-study of Leviticus, msg. 11)
Jesus as the Fine Flour
In His boyhood He grew in wisdom and stature, in the grace of God, and in favor with God and men (vv. 40, 52). Wisdom refers to the inner man, and stature refers to the physical body. The wisdom of the Savior’s deity (Col. 2:2-3) was revealed in proportion to the measure of His bodily growth. In His boyhood the grace of God was upon Him. As a boy, He needed the grace of God for His human life. He was filled with the wisdom of His deity and needed the grace of God in His humanity. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 1, “The Move of God in Man”, msg. 3)
The same chapter in Luke tells us that when He was twelve years of age, He knew how to care for His Father’s will and yet at the same time be subject to His natural parents. He both rebuked His parents and was subject unto them. He asked, “Did you not know that I must be in the things of My Father?” (2:49). Yet verse 51 says that He went down with them and was subject to them. Do you see the balance? Some young people may say, “I am for God; I do not care for my parents.” Yes, they are for God, but they are not balanced. When they are still underage, as Jesus was when He was twelve, they must be for God yet at the same time be subject to their parents. So many young people are for Jesus but in a rough way. They are not fine and balanced.
We really see Jesus as the fine flour in the Gospel of Luke. He exulted, but He also wept. I am afraid that many of us have never wept, and some in the past years have never exulted. We are not so balanced. Some are too quiet and need to make a little noise, and some noisy ones need to be quieter. We all must be balanced. Luke 10:21 says that Jesus exulted in the Holy Spirit, but it was not for Himself; He exulted in the will of God. “In that hour He exulted in the Holy Spirit and said, I extol You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it has been well pleasing in Your sight.” He exulted because the Father had revealed all these things to the babes. Luke 19:41 says that He wept over Jerusalem: “As He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it.” He was not weeping for Himself but for the situation of the city of Jerusalem.
How we need to pray-read all these verses in Luke that we may really see Jesus as the fine flour! When He sent His disciples to a place in Samaria, the people rejected them. So the disciples said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them and said, “You do not know of what kind of spirit you are” (9:54-55). He was so fine. Whether the people rejected Him or welcomed Him, He was continually the same. No rejection could irritate or offend Him. When people welcomed Him, He went away. “The word concerning Him spread abroad all the more, and great crowds came together to hear Him and to be healed from their infirmities. But He Himself often withdrew in the wilderness and prayed” (5:15-16). We would think that when His fame grew, it would be a great opportunity for Him to do something. But He withdrew in the wilderness and prayed. When people welcomed Him, He went away, and when people rejected Him, He was patient with them. All these verses reveal to us a man who is really the fine flour. He is so tender, so kind, so even, so balanced, so gentle, and so pure.
The Oil
He was born of the Spirit, and the Spirit even descended upon Him in the bodily form of a dove. “Now when all the people were baptized and as Jesus was baptized and was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form as a dove upon Him. And a voice came out of heaven: You are My Son, the Beloved; in You I have found My delight” (3:21-22). The Spirit did not descend upon Him in an abstract way, but in a definite form. He was full of the Spirit, led by the Spirit, and in the power of the Spirit: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness…And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee” (4:1, 14). He was even anointed with the Spirit: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me” (v. 18). With the humanity of Jesus as the fine flour, there is the oil as the Spirit anointing, mingling, and saturating Him.
The Frankincense
We can also see something of the fragrant frankincense in these verses. He was so fragrant and so sweet. It is very difficult to translate this word frankincense. Some versions say that this is something restful and satisfying. It is not only sweet and fragrant but restful and peaceful. In all these verses we see that Jesus is really the fragrant frankincense. He has the fragrance of resurrection. When Jesus was being arrested, Peter was strong with his sword to cut off the ear of one of the servants. But the Lord Jesus told Peter, “Let them go this far. And touching his ear, He healed him” (22:51). Jesus stopped the sword and recovered the ear. This is not anything natural; this is the fragrance of His resurrection. In His most tested hour, Jesus would not accept any protection; He cared instead for the suffering one.
The Salt
In these verses we can see the fine flour, the oil, the frankincense, and also the salt. When people wanted to make Him great, He ran away. When they rejected Him, He did not reprove them. When they arrested Him, He could have destroyed them by calling twelve legions of angels, but He did nothing (Matt. 26:53). He even healed the ear of the one who came to arrest Him. What is this? This is the killing of the self. There was no corruption or fermentation with Him. He was under the salt all the time. Regardless of what kind of situation or circumstance He was in, He was always under the killing in His actions and words. In His human living, there was the real salt. In Jesus we see the fine flour, the oil, the frankincense, and the salt.
The Gospel of Luke is strategic in showing us the Lord’s humanity. This is why we cannot find these verses in the other three Gospels. These are the unique verses concerning the humanity of Jesus. We all need to pray-read these verses at least three or four times and put them into practice in our daily walk. It is only by feeding upon His humanity in these verses that we will experience His humanity in our daily life. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 2, “Christ as the Reality”, msg. 6)
The Humanity of Jesus as Our Meal Offering
The humanity of Jesus as the meal offering is our priestly diet. Therefore, we need to feed on the humanity of Jesus so that we may become strong serving priests. The more we feed on the humanity of Jesus as our meal offering, the more we will become strong priests and strong standing boards for the church life.
Recently, we began using a new expression—Jesusly human. In order for us to be proper men, we should not be naturally human but Jesusly human, and the way for us to be Jesusly human is to eat Jesus daily. In John 6:57 the Lord Jesus said, “As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.” In this verse the Greek word for eat means “to masticate.” Day by day we need to masticate Jesus, that is, to eat Him finely by “chewing” Him slowly. If we masticate Jesus, eating Him as our food, He will be digested and assimilated into us. We are what we eat, and we live by what we eat. What we eat becomes our constitution. Just as we are constituted with fish when we eat a great deal of fish, so also we are constituted with Jesus when we eat Him. If we continually eat Jesus, He will become us, and we will become Him.
If we are filled with the humanity of Christ, we will have genuine experiences of Him as a man and will present the Christ whom we have experienced as a meal offering to God in the church meetings. Then our meetings will be enriched with the meal offering, that is, with the humanity of Christ experienced by many saints and pre¬sented to God. A portion of this meal offering will be for God’s satisfaction; the remainder will be the portion of all the serving priests. Through such meetings, we will be fed with the humanity of Jesus and wil1 be strong in every aspect of our daily walk, including our school life, business life, family life, and married life. We will no longer be loose in our daily conduct; instead, we will have a proper humanity for our daily living. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 2, “Enjoying the Humanity of Jesus for the Church”, ch. 1)
THE MAN-SAVIOR MINISTERING IN HIS HUMAN VIRTUES
WITH HIS DIVINE ATTRIBUTES
The ministry of the Man-Savior was in His human virtues with His divine attributes. We have seen that the preparation of the Man-Savior was in His humanity with His divinity. The conception, birth, and growth of the Man-Savior were all in His humanity with His divinity. After undergoing a full preparation, He began to minister. Like His preparation, His ministry was in His humanity with His divinity. In particular, His ministry was not only in His humanity but in His human virtues, and not only with His divinity but also with His divine attributes. The Man-Savior ministered in His human virtues with His divine attributes. (Life-study of Luke, msg. 11)
Curing the Dying One
Luke 7:1 and 2 say, “After He completed all His words in the hearing of the people, He entered into Capernaum. And a certain centurion’s slave, who was highly valued by him, was ill and about to die.” A centurion was an officer over one hundred in the Roman army. This centurion represents the believing Gentiles, who are saved through faith in the Lord’s word (v. 7).
Having heard about Jesus, this centurion “sent to Him elders of the Jews, requesting that He might come and bring his slave safely through his illness” (v. 3). When these elders reached Jesus, “they entreated Him earnestly, saying, He is worthy that You should grant this to him. For he loves our nation, and he himself built the synagogue for us” (vv. 4-5).
While the Man-Savior was on His way to the centurion’s home, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof; wherefore I did not even count myself worthy to come to You; but say a word, and let my servant be cured” (vv. 6-7). In verse 8 we have a further word of the centurion conveyed to the Lord Jesus through his friends: “For I also am a man set under authority, having under myself soldiers; and I tell this one, Go, and he goes; and another, Come, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does it” (v. 8).
In 7:1-10 we see authority and the word of authority. The centurion seemed to be saying to the Man-Savior, “Lord, I am not worthy to come to see You or for You to come to my house. Yet I know what authority is. I am under the authority of others, and others are under my authority. All I need to do is speak a word to one of the soldiers, and he does what I say. I know, Lord, that You are the authority in this universe.”
How did this Roman centurion, a Gentile, come to know the Lord’s authority? According to verse 5, he loved the Jewish nation and built a synagogue for the Jews. From this we see that probably he had some knowledge of the Old Testament. Furthermore, he referred to the Man-Savior as Lord. Hence, he realized that the Man-Savior was the One who has the genuine authority.
The centurion also knew the significance of a word of authority. This was the reason he could say to the Man-Savior, “Say a word, and let my servant be cured” (v. 7). He knew authority and the word as the expression of authority. The centurion’s slave was in fact healed by the word of the Man-Savior.
In 7:9 the Lord Jesus marveled at the centurion’s faith: “And hearing these things, Jesus marveled at him, and turning to the crowd following Him, He said, I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” The Gentile centurion recognized the authority of the Man-Savior and realized that His word was a word with healing authority. Thus, he believed not only in the Man-Savior, but also in His word. He asked the Lord not to come personally, but only to send His word. The Man-Savior marveled at this great faith.
In this case also we see the Lord’s human virtues with His divine attributes. His virtue was expressed in the fact of His going to the home of the centurion. The Lord Jesus is the Lord of the entire universe. Nevertheless, He was willing to go to see an officer in the Roman army. The centurion had only one hundred soldiers under his authority, but the Lord Jesus has the whole universe under His authority. In the Man-Savior’s human virtue, His divine attribute of authority was expressed. He spoke a word, and the centurion’s slave was healed. Here we see the Lord’s divine attribute manifested in His human virtue.
Showing Pity to the Weeping Mother by Raising up Her Dead Son
In 7:11-17 we see the Man-Savior showing pity to the weeping mother by raising up her dead son. Verses 11 and 12 say, “And it came about soon afterwards that He went into a city called Nain, and His disciples went with Him and a large crowd. Now as He came near the gate of the city, behold, one who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a considerable crowd from the city was with her.” This situation was very sad, and no one could do anything to comfort the grieving widow. First she had lost her husband, and now she had lost her only son.
This case was unique in its misery—the only son of a widow was being carried in the coffin. The Savior’s compassion was also unique in His loving sympathy. He volunteered, in His tender mercy, His power of resurrection to raise the widow’s son from death, without being asked to do so. This indicates His unique commission, coming to save lost sinners (19:10), and shows the high standard of His morality, as a Man-Savior, in saving sinners.
Luke 7:13-15 says, “And seeing her, the Lord had compassion on her, and said to her, Do not weep. And approaching, He touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. And He said, Young man, I say to you, arise! And the dead man sat up and began to speak; and He gave him to his mother.” Here we see the Man-Savior’s compassion in speaking to the widow and in touching the coffin. When He touched the coffin, those who were carrying it stood still. Then the Lord commanded the dead son of the widow to arise. This is the Lord’s divine attributes expressed in His human virtues.
In His compassion, the Man-Savior spoke to the widow and touched the coffin. He was not asked to do these things. But seeing the situation, He initiated the action that caused the dead son to be raised up. To the great surprise of those present, the Lord initiated this action according to His human virtue. What caused Him to be moved with compassion? The cause of this was His human virtue. Then in His human virtue His divine attributes were expressed by raising the young man from the dead.
Again we see that the Lord Jesus is full of the human virtues and of the divine attributes. In His raising up the dead son and giving him to his mother, we see the expression of the Man-Savior’s divine attributes in His human virtues.
Luke, who wrote his Gospel according to the sequence of morality, put together the two cases of the healing of the centurion’s slave and the raising up of the widow’s son. In the case of the healing of the centurion’s slave we see the Lord’s authority, but in the case of the raising up of the widow’s son we see His affection. When the Lord touched the coffin, He showed His sympathy, affection, and love. Therefore, the first case is a matter of authority; the second case is a matter of affectionate sympathy. In both cases we see the Man-Savior in His human virtues with His divine attributes.
Actually, in both cases we see the authority of the Man-Savior. Saying a word that the centurion’s servant may be healed implies authority. However, the authority expressed here is not as high as that expressed in the raising up of the widow’s son. When we put these two cases together, we see that the Man-Savior, the God-man, was full of human virtues with the divine attributes. (Life-study of Luke, msg. 16)
The Case of a Sinful Woman
As a help in understanding the expression “in His human virtues with His divine attributes,” let us use some cases in the Gospel of Luke as illustrations. In 7:36-50 a sinful woman came into the home of a Pharisee who had invited the Lord Jesus to eat with him. As we read the account of this incident, we see that Jesus, the Man-Savior, conducted Himself in His human virtues. He was not at all bothered by that sinful woman, even when “she began to wet His feet with her tears, and to wipe them with the hair of her head” and when “she kissed His feet affectionately and anointed them with the ointment” (v. 38). If we had been the Lord Jesus, we probably would have been troubled by the behavior of this woman. We might have said to her, “Don’t you know that I am a guest in this house? Can’t you see that I am eating?” However, to act in that way would be to fail to act in the proper human virtues. In this situation the Man-Savior was very kind and patient, realizing that this woman had been convicted of her sins.
He was also merciful. People often speak about love, but rarely about mercy. Mercy, however, is more tender than love. To be merciful is to sympathize with others in their poor condition and low estate.
In addition to exercising kindness, patience, and mercy toward the woman, the Lord Jesus also exercised His understanding. Often we fail to understand others, but the Lord Jesus was very understanding in the case of this woman. Furthermore, He was wise and loving.
Perhaps you are wondering what divine attributes are expressed in 7:36-50. First, here we have the divine forgiveness (7:47-48). God is the only one who can grant forgiveness of sins. He alone is qualified to forgive sins. Therefore, forgiveness is one of the divine attributes.
In 7:50 the Lord Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” The giving of peace is also a divine attribute. God is the only one who can give inner peace.
In 7:36-50 we see the Man-Savior in the house of a Pharisee acting in His human virtues with His divine attributes. He could behave in such a manner because He was the God-man. We may say that He was a man equipped by God and with God. He possessed all the human virtues created by God, and He also had the divine attributes. Hence, He acted in the highest standard of morality, for His human virtues expressed His divine attributes.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
The Man-Savior’s human virtues and divine attributes are also revealed in the parable of the good Samaritan (10:25-37). The good Samaritan signifies the Man-Savior. It is easy to see the human virtues of the Samaritan, but where in this parable do we see the divine attributes? The Lord’s divine attributes are seen in the Samaritan’s bringing the wounded one to an inn. “And on the next morning, taking out two denarii, he gave them to the innkeeper and said to him, Take care of him; and whatever you spend in addition, when I return, I will repay you” (10:35). Here we see something of the Lord’s divine attributes. Who besides God can do things in such an unexpected, unanticipated way? If this One were not God, how could He have spoken these words to the innkeeper? The Lord’s doing the unexpected may be considered an expression of His divine attributes. (Life-study of Luke, msg. 11)
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
I love Luke 15. Verse 1 says, “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Him to hear Him.” The gentlemen and righteous men were not joined to Him, but the tax collectors and sinners were. Therefore, the Pharisees murmured and complained again. Then the Lord spoke three parables. The first is concerning a shepherd seeking the one, unique, lost sheep. Of one hundred, this one was a lost one, so the shepherd came purposely for him. Why did the Lord go to a house full of sinners and tax collectors? It was because among them there was one lost sheep of His, whom He had come to seek. The second parable is concerning a woman who lit a lamp and swept the house to seek her lost coin. The third parable is about the prodigal son. The shepherd is the Son, the woman is the Spirit, and in the parable of the prodigal son there is the Father. As the prodigal son was returning, he was preparing and considering what to speak to his father. He prepared himself to say, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants” (vv. 18-19). While he was walking and thinking like this, the father saw him. Verse 20 says, “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him affectionately.” That the father saw the son a long way off was not an accident. From the time the son left home, the father must have gone out to look and wait for his coming back every day. We do not know how many days he watched and waited. When the father saw him, he ran to him. This is the Father’s heart. The father interrupted the son while he was speaking his prepared word. The son wanted to speak the word he had prepared, but the father told his servants to bring the robe, the ring, and the sandals and to prepare the fattened calf. A teacher among the Brethren told me that in the whole Bible we can see God run only one time, in Luke 15, where the father saw the returning prodigal son. He ran; he could not wait. This is the Father’s heart. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord”, ch. 2)
A Willing Spirit
Chapter 5 tells us that the way to be brought into the ministry of Jesus is to be poor in spirit and pure in heart (vv. 3, 8). To be poor in spirit brings us into the kingdom of the heavens, and to be pure in heart gives us the way to see God. What we need is not an organization but the kingdom of the heavens, and not a religion but God Himself. Moreover, if we are poor in spirit and pure in heart, we will be peacemakers, who are the sons of God (v. 9). Our being sons of God implies that we are conceived of the Holy Spirit to have the life of God. To be poor in spirit means that we do not consider that we are anything, that we have anything, or that we know anything. If we are truly poor in spirit, we will say, “Lord, I am nothing, I have nothing, and I know nothing.” To be pure in our heart means that we seek nothing other than God Himself, taking Him as our unique goal. If we are poor in spirit and pure in heart, spontaneously we are sons of God, conceived of the Spirit to have the life of God. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 1, “The Enjoyment of Christ in Our Spirit for the Building up of the Church as Revealed in the Gospel of Matthew”, ch. 1)
In verse 8a David prayed, “Let me hear gladness and joy,” and in verse 12 he asked, “Restore to me the gladness of Your salvation,/And sustain me with a willing spirit.” Here we see a connection between gladness and willingness of spirit. When we are happy, we also have a willing spirit. This is the overcoming life. A defeated person, on the contrary, is unhappy and does not have a willing spirit. If such a defeated one confesses his sin and asks God for His forgiveness, he will have the gladness of God’s salvation and will also have a willing spirit. It is by the gladness of God’s salvation that a willing spirit is sustained within us. (Life-study of Psalms, msg. 23)
Following the Steps of the Processed Triune God
in His Seeking and Gaining Fallen People
We have to follow the steps of the processed Triune God in His seeking and gaining fallen people. Luke 15 records that the Pharisees and scribes criticized the Lord by saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (v. 2). Then the Lord told three wonderful parables, which unveil the saving love of the Triune God toward sinners.
Our shepherding should be according to God’s love toward the fallen human race. The fallen human race is joined with Satan to be his world in his system, but God has a heart of love toward these people. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups”, msg. 4)
The Lord’s Word to the Thief
The Lord also acted in His human virtues with His divine attributes when He was on the cross. The thief said to Him, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (23:42). The Lord replied, “Truly I tell you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (v. 43). Here we see the human virtues expressing the divine attributes. In the Lord’s word to the thief we see not merely the human virtues, but also the divine attributes manifested in the Lord’s human virtues. Although He was a man, He was filled with all the divine attributes. Therefore, He could act in His human virtues with His divine attributes. These illustrations should help us understand how the Lord ministered in His human virtues with His divine attributes. (Life-study of Luke, msg. 11)
LISTENING TO THE LORD’S WORD AND KNOWING HIS DESIRE
When the Lord came to Bethany, Martha received Him and served Him. However, Martha served the Savior according to her own concept and understanding. She thought that after making a long journey the Lord wanted to be served with material things. Therefore, she was busy in doing many things for the Man-Savior.
Do you think that when the Lord came into Martha’s home in Bethany His desire was to be served with material things? To be sure, it was not His desire to be served with food. On the contrary, His desire was that His saved ones would listen to Him in order to know what was on His heart. The Lord did not care about eating; He wanted those who loved Him to be silent, to sit with Him, to listen to Him, and to concentrate on His speaking. In this way they would know His desire and preference.
In 10:39 Mary sat at the Lord’s feet listening to His word. Later, she prepared ointment to anoint Him before His death. How did Mary know to do this? I believe she came to know this through listening to the Savior’s speaking. By sitting at the Savior’s feet and listening to His word, she came to know His desire and preference.
Today most of the Lord’s saved ones are busy trying to serve Him. They may also be trying to make the Savior busy. But those who know the Lord and who know His desire and preference would say, “Don’t be so busy. The Lord wants to rest. The most precious thing to Him is not that you work for Him or try to do things for Him. What is most precious to Him is that you sit with Him and silently listen to His word. If you sit with the Lord and listen to His word, you will know His desire and preference.” (Life-study of Luke, msg. 26)