His Goings Forth

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“HIS GOINGS FORTH”

(Micah 5:2)

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”

     I will . . . point you to four occasions when Jesus Christ our Lord has appeared on earth as a man, before his great incarnation for our salvation.  And, first, I beg to refer you to the 18th chapter of Genesis, where Jesus Christ appeared to Abraham, of whom we read, “The Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lift up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground.” But whom did he bow to? He said “My Lord,” only to one of them. There was one man between the other two, the most conspicuous for his glory, for he was the God-man Christ; the other two were created angels; who for a time had assumed the appearance of men. But this was the man Christ Jesus. “And he said, My Lord, if now I

have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:  Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.” You will notice that this majestic man, this glorious person, stayed behind to talk with Abraham. In the 22nd verse it is said,-”And the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom;” that is, two of them, as you will see in the next chapter “but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.” You will notice that this man, the Lord, held sweet fellowship with Abraham, and allowed Abraham to plead for the city he was about to destroy. He was in the positive form of man; so that when he walked the streets of Judea it was not the first time that he was a man; he was so before, in “the plain of Mamre, in the heat of the day.”

     There is another instance-his appearing to Jacob, which you have recorded in the 32nd chapter of Genesis and the 24th verse. All his family were gone, “And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, unless thou bless me.  And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God.” This was a man, and yet God. “For as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” And Jacob knew that this man was God, for he says in the 30th verse: “for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

     Another instance you will find in the book of Joshua. When Joshua had crossed the narrow stream of Jordan, and had entered the promised land, and was about to drive out the Canaanites, lo! this mighty man-God appeared to Joshua. In the 5th chapter, at the 13th verse, we read-”And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went unto him, and (like a brave warrior, as he was,) said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.” And Joshua saw at once that there was divinity in him; for Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said to him, “What saith my lord unto his servant?” Now, if this had been a created angel he would have reproved Joshua, and said, “I am one of your fellow servants.” But no; “the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy.  And Joshua did so.”

     Another remarkable instance is that recorded in the third chapter of the book of Daniel, where we read the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being cast into the fiery furnace, which was so fierce that it destroyed the men who threw them in. Suddenly the king said to his counsellors-”Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” How should Nebuchadnezzar know that? Only that there was something so noble and majestic in the way in which that wondrous Man bore himself, and some awful influence about him, who so marvelously broke the consuming teeth of that biting and devouring flame, so that it could not so much as singe the children of God. Nebuchadnezzar recognized his humanity. He did not say, “I see three men and an angel,” but he said, “I see four positive men, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” You see then, what is meant by his goings forth being “from

everlasting.”

     Observe for a moment here, that each of these four great occurrences happened to the saints when they there engaged in very eminent duty, or when they were about to be engaged in it. Jesus Christ does not appear to his saints every day. He did not come to see Jacob till he was in affliction; he did not visit Joshua before he was about to be engaged in a righteous war. It is only in extraordinary seasons that Christ thus manifests himself to

his people. When Abraham interceded for Sodom, Jesus was with him, for one of the highest and noblest employ meets of a Christian is that of intercession, and it is when he is so engaged that he will be likely to obtain a sight of Christ. Jacob was engaged in wrestling, and that is a part of Christian’s duty to which some of you never did attain; consequently, you do not have many visits from Jesus. It was when Joshua was                exercising bravery that the Lord met him. So with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: they were in the high places of persecution, on account of their adherence to duty, when he came to them and said, “I will be with you, passing through the fire.” There are certain peculiar places we must enter, to meet with the Lord. We must be in great trouble, like Jacob; we must be in great labor, like Joshua; we must have great intercessory faith, like

Abraham; we must be firm in the performance of duty, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego or else we shall not know him “whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting;” or, if we know him, we shall not be able to “comprehend with all the saints what is the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.”    

[Spurgeon, MTP, Vol. 2, 58-60]

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