The Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ had, according to His own declaration, His period for work assigned to Him. “I must”, he said, “work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” It was as true for Him, as it is for us, that there was a time to be born and a time to die and in between these events how much was accomplished by Him in fulfilling His covenant obligations! So faithful and devoted a Servant was He that we find the Apostle John, in concluding his Gospel, drawing attention to the fact that if the “many other things which Jesus did”— in addition to those recorded by him — “should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” “Not only”, says Calvin, “ought we to take into account the number of Christ’s works, but we ought also to consider their importance and magnitude. The majesty of Christ, which by its infinity swallowed up, if I may so speak, not only the senses of men, but heaven and earth, gave a miraculous display of its own splendour in those works. If the Evangelist, casting his eyes on that brightness, exclaims in astonishment, that even the whole world could not contain a full narrative, ought we to wonder at it? Nor is he at all to be blamed, if he employ a frequent and ordinary figure of speech for commending the excellence of the works of Christ.”
That He finished the work given Him to do, and to the satisfaction of the Father, who chose Him and upheld Him, is the very sum and substance of the Gospel which we proclaim. God’s co-equal, co-eternal Son “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” to become “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Since the beginning of time, there never was, nor shall there ever be, a Servant like Him. None other than a Redeemer who was both human and divine could have undertaken and performed the work which He finished at Calvary. To all who are taught of the Spirit of God it is inexpressibly wonderful that He came, lovingly and willingly, to lay down His life at the behest of the Father and as “a ransom for many.” “Had it been only a mere man,” the Rev Charles Calder of Ferintosh declared in one of his sermons, “a creature though of the most exalted rank, who had condescended to suffer and die for us, whatever admiration and praise such friendship might excite, it could afford us no solid consolation, as it could be of no avail to expiate the guilt of sin, or to obtain for us eternal redemption. The redemption of the soul was precious, and it must have ceased forever, had not a ransom of infinite worth been provided, adequate indeed to the redemption of a multitude which no man can number, and each soul of that multitude incomparably more valuable in His estimation, who best knew its worth, than the whole world. . . That one of such infinite dignity should humble Himself thus, and shed His blood on a cross for the salvation of men, is altogether wonderful and mysterious. . .”
For the excellency of this knowledge of Christ Jesus, his Lord, Paul counted all other things but loss. He was led in no ordinary measure into the great mystery of godliness that “God was manifest in the flesh” and the Spirit-wrought conviction that such a glorious Being had loved him and given Himself for him constrained him to serve Him with matchless devotion. It was this recognition of the One who had made Himself of no reputation and the end for which he was obedient unto death, that moved Paul to glory in His cross and to consecrate his life to Him. “For me,” he declared, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” We are to be followers of Paul even as he was a follower of Christ. He commended the example and service of Christ to the Philippians and since he was writing by Divine inspiration what he wrote is ever applicable. If we, in the course of our day, are to serve Him acceptably, then, this mind must be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; if we bear His yolk, then, we must learn of Him who is meek and lowly in heart. He has left us an example that we should follow in His steps. In referring to the necessity of working while it was day the Saviour, according to Calvin, was borrowing “a comparison from the ordinary custom of life; for, when the sun is risen, man rises to labour, but the night is allotted to repose, as it is said, The sun riseth; man goeth forth to his work, and to his labour, till the evening.” He therefore employs the word day to denote the time which the Father had fixed, during which He must finish the work assigned Him; in the same manner as every man who has been called to some public office ought to be employed in what may be called his daily task, to perform what the nature of his office demands. Hence too we ought to deduce a universal rule, that to every man the course of his life may be called his day. Wherefore as the short duration of the light ought to excite labourers to industry and toil, that the darkness of the night may not come on them by surprise, ere their exertions are well begun, so, when we see that a short period of life is allotted to us, we ought to be ashamed of languishing in idleness.”
The words, “While it is day” might well be thought of as being ever before the mind of the late Rev Donald Beaton MacLeod. It was evident to all who knew him that he self-denyingly and assiduously did his utmost to advance the interests of Christ’s cause and kingdom. He loved the Church of his fathers and in times of crises always stood rock-firm in defence of its witness and testimony. The tenor of the last editorial which he wrote and which he entitled “Death, Judgment and Eternity” indicates clearly where his thoughts were as he drew nigh the end of his period of sojourning here. We know not whether he was aware of the extent to which the shadows of the evening had stretched out as far as his day of labour was concerned. What we do know with certainty is that it has ended and that he has gone to be with the Master whom he loved; whose service he was often weary in, but never weary of. He has entered into that rest which remaineth to the people of God. “It will not,” he wrote, “be a rest of inactivity but a rest of unwearied service throughout eternity.” There is no stretching forth of evening shadows in Immanuel’s Land for there is no night where the Lamb is all the glory. “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.”