The Lower Lights
In the last edition of the Wicket Gate one of the articles was given the title of “A Bunch of Everlastings.” That article is a direct lead into the series we are now beginning. The link below will take you to the article.
http://www.wicketgate.co.uk/issue143/e143_2.html
Jesus, who was called Justus
In the last chapter of Colossians, verse 11, we find the apostle Paul linking the name of one, “Jesus, which is called Justus,” with the names of a few others who have been a comfort to him, and fellow-workers with him in the things of the gospel. “Jesus, which is called Justus,” was a Jew by birth, as Paul tells us there, and there is a world of significance in what that man was first called within the context of his Jewish home, and what he later called himself when the grace of God had taken hold upon his heart.
Like a good many Jewish homes, the home in which “Jesus, which is called Justus,” was born and reared-up was a home that had a certain expectation. A good many of the people of Israel were looking for the coming of their promised Saviour and Messiah. Although many of their ideas about what kind of a Saviour and Messiah he would be were far off the mark, they still held firmly to the expectation, as such. When this particular mother in Israel, then, gave birth to a baby son, the parents gave vent to that expectation in their own lives and called their baby boy, “Jesus.” The name Jesus in the New Testament times was the equivalent to Joshua in the Old, and as Joshua had been Israel’s Saviour of long ago, so this family called their son, Joshua – or Jesus, as it then was. So this particular child was named, grew-up, advanced into manhood, and was known by one and all as Jesus.
Then came the day of his salvation. We are not told how this Jesus was converted; we are not told who preached, or witnessed, or what the text was, or any of these details; but converted he was. Neither are we told any specific details about what work he did in the church of Christ, or what office he held, if he held any at all. But one thing that we are told about him marks him down as well worth remembering, indeed, among Paul’s collection of saints at the end of Colossians. There obviously came a day in the life of this man called Jesus when he began to look at that name that his Jewish parents had given him, and he began to realise how incongruous that name really was for him. He was no Saviour: how much he must have realised that! He was no Saviour – and, indeed, was it not the case that he had needed a Saviour to save him from all his sins. And what was that Saviour’s name? His name was “Jesus;” not by any popular choice of his earthly parents and guardians, but by divine command –“Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” And so, this dear man whose mother and father had named him Jesus, began to say, in fact, “Call me no more Jesus, but call me Justus, for there is only one Jesus who bears that name aright among all the sons of men.” And from that day forward, that Jesus began to call himself Justus.
The significance of that name-change – not only from the name of Jesus, but to the name of Justus goes without saying. Justus conjures up pictures of the “justified one” – the one who has been made “just indeed” through the merits of that Saviour whose name he once bore. And when the Holy Spirit of God retains both of those names together for us for those few brief seconds on the pages of the Word of God, He is, surely, speaking volumes to us concerning that man’s heart and mind. No man is his own Saviour, nor the Saviour of others but all men need the one and only Saviour whom God has sent forth in Christ His Son.
Well then, Paul tells us, this man became a “fellow-worker” with him in the things of the gospel of justification by faith alone, and he also proved himself to be a “comfort” to Paul in so many of those earthly labours. The two terms are general, but they are precious. Again, as in the case of this man’s conversion, we are not told any details about those “works” that he carried out with Paul, nor in what precise way he was a “comfort” to him; but the terms are precious. The labours of the apostle Paul were herculean, but we always find Paul ready to speak of those who laboured with him in the gospel, both men and women. The strength of the apostle Paul in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ was powerful and mighty to the casting down of Satan’s strongholds, yet we see here that Paul needed and enjoyed the “comforts” of the saints in the good fight of faith. Such an one was “Jesus which is called Justus.” He was Paul’s fellow-worker and proved himself a comfort to Paul in the heat of the day. He took his place in the Church of Christ as a member in particular in that body, and brief and all as the record of his life is, the Spirit of God has written it clear, and written it down for all generations of “lower lights” that were to come.
Note – several years ago this series was sent out as a series of podcasts which are still available at:
http://www.wicketgate.co.uk/podcast_the_lower_lights/podcast_the_lower_lights.html