When God Was Silent

Three times in the Gospels, we are told that the Lord was placed on the same level as other people.

1. We have the first incident at the beginning of the Lord Jesus’ public life when John the Baptist was baptized at the Jordan (Matthew 3:1, 2). People came to him from all over Judea and Jerusalem to be baptized (Mt 3:5). These people had recognized that they had sins in their lives. Now they came to John, confessed their sins and were baptized. By doing so, they justified God and acknowledged his judgment on their sinful lives (Lk 7:29). By being baptized, they separated themselves from an unbelieving and unrepentant people. Now, the Lord Jesus came to the Jordan and joined the ranks of those who wanted to be baptized. In his humility, the Lord Jesus identified himself entirely with these repentant Jews. From the outside, no difference could be discerned between the Lord Jesus and the rest of the people. Even if the observer was in danger of placing the Lord Jesus on the same level as a repentant sinner, God makes it clear here directly and immediately through a voice: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). Here, God does not allow his Son to be placed on the same level as sinners.
2. We find another incident on the Mount of Transfiguration. The Lord climbed the mountain to pray with John, James and Peter. While he was praying, “the appearance of his face changed, and his robe became white” (Luke 9:29). Moses and Elijah also appear in glory and discuss the outcome he was to fulfill in Jerusalem (Lk 9:31). While this was happening, the disciples had fallen asleep. But when they were fully awake, Peter said: “Master, it is good that we are here; and we will make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” (Luke 9:33). But the Holy Spirit adds that Peter did not know what he was saying. No doubt Peter had meant the suggestion well. But again, God must intervene immediately. He cannot allow his Son to be placed on the same level as these admittedly great men of God from the Old Testament. It is the Son alone in whom the Father is well pleased (Mt 17:5).
3. We see the last incident in the last hours of the Lord Jesus’ life. After the Lord Jesus had already been maltreated in the worst possible way, he carried his cross to Golgotha, “where he was crucified, and two others with him, on this side and on that side, and Jesus in the middle” (John 19:18). This fulfilled the Lord’s words to his disciples: “For I say to you that these things which are written must yet be fulfilled in me: And he has been reckoned among the lawless” (Lk 22:37; Is 53:12). There he now hung under the biting mockery of the crowd. Even the criminals crucified on his left and right joined in the mockery. Later, one comes to his senses and rebukes the other: “Do you not fear God either, since you are in the same judgment?” The man had put the Lord Jesus on the same level as an outlaw in all his wickedness. Even worse, by hanging him in the middle, they seemed to want to express that he was the worst of all. Do we feel anything of what is happening to the Savior here? In Matthew 27:39-44 we read how the Lord Jesus was mocked. Among other things, it was said, “He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God” (Matthew 27:43). The fact that the Lord Jesus hung there on the cross without God intervening was proof to the Jews that the Lord was an ordinary man. For them, he was the lawless one. From the outside, you could see no difference between the two criminals and the Lord. They were all in the same court. Men had assigned this place to him, and the Lord humbly took it. And yet the Lord Jesus could say from his heart: “To do your good pleasure, my God, is my delight; and your law is within my heart” (Ps 40:9). Even the criminal has to admit: “And we indeed rightly, for we receive what our deeds are worth; but this man has done nothing unseemly” (Luke 23:41). And God? He had intervened in the life of the Lord Jesus and had not allowed people to put him on the same level as others. But this time, God remains silent. Yes, even more: in the three hours of darkness, the Lord Jesus is still forsaken by God: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46).
   Throughout human history, God had been sought, yet it was only found that none did good and that all had departed from him (Rom 3:10, 11). But when the Lord Jesus came to this earth, there was finally one in whom God was thoroughly pleased. Given this life, heaven could not remain silent. But now, as the Son of Man hangs tormented and humiliated on the cross, heaven is silent. It is  because the one who did not know sin was made sin for us (cf. 1 Cor 5:21) and went into the judgment of a holy and righteous God over sin. Even if it is impossible for us to feel what this silence of heaven meant for the Lord Jesus, we can still thank him from the bottom of our hearts that he went into this silence and abandonment by God.

And yet God did not remain “silent” forever. God did not allow his pious man to see corruption (Acts 2:27), nor was it possible for him to be arrested by death (Acts 2:24). And so God raised him from death and exalted him to heaven at his right hand (Acts 2:23, 33). No human being will ever have this place. God gave the Lord Jesus the same glory as a human being that He always had as the Son of God. He has placed him as man on the same level as himself (cf. John 17:5). There the believer may see him, who was humbled a little below the angels because of the sufferings of death, crowned with glory and honor (cf. Heb 2:9), “henceforth waiting until his enemies are made his footstool” (Heb 10:13). Even though God remained silent on Golgotha and the Lord Jesus is still the one “counted among the lawless” today, God will speak once publicly and unmistakably and ensure that the Lord Jesus will be honored by all people. He will appear here on this earth a second time. This time, not in the form of a servant, but “with power and great glory” (Mt 24:30). “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him” (Rev 1,7). Then every knee will bow before him, and everyone will confess “that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:9, 10). Then the Lord Jesus will have the highest and most honorable place on earth and in heaven – alone!