The life of a true child of God should be a continuous exercise of daily learning from the Lord. The moment we receive salvation we are enrolled in the school of Christ. To grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us should always be our ambition. The excellency of His knowledge surpasses any other privilege in life. He said “Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me…and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Mt. 11:29), thus pointing us to the truth that the way to obtain rest is in carrying His yoke and learning of Him.
His Words
It is amazing that the Teacher of all, who has left us an example to follow (1 Pet. 2:21), has Himself, during His earthly sojourn, taken the place of the learner. Speaking by the words of the prophet Isaiah, He says, “The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary” (Isa. 50:4). His words were always words of grace, spoken at the right time, and achieving the purpose for which they were uttered.
We also learn that the source of these words was the Father Himself. For as the Father has taught Him, so He spoke (Jn. 8:26-28). Christ could say to the Jews, “I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak…whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the Father said unto Me so I speak” (Jn. 12:49-50). To the Father, He says in His high priestly prayer for the disciples, “I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me” (Jn. 17:8).
Is it not amazing that the Omniscient One has, in the days of His humiliation, taken the place of the Learner? But such is the example that He has left us. Are we willing to be learners in His school?
His Prayers
But how did He get to have the tongue of the learned? Our verse continues by saying, “He wakeneth, morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine ear to hear like the learned” (Isa. 50:4). The awakening of the ear every morning speaks of the continual communion between the Father and the Son and refers to the prayer life of the Saviour. As the perfect Servant of Jehovah, we find Him often in prayer to His Father. In the Gospel records we read of many occasions where the Lord is seen alone in prayer. Luke, who portrays Him as the perfect Man, speaks of Him as having “continued all night in prayer” (Lk. 6:12). And we should not think that this was the only time. We read that He prayed at His baptism (Lk. 3:21), before choosing His disciples (Lk. 6:12), and on the Mount of Transfiguration (Lk. 9:29), just to mention a few examples.
We read of an even more moving aspect of our Lord’s prayer life in the Book of Hebrews. “Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared” (Heb. 5:7). This perhaps refers to His agony in prayer in Gethsemane. Yet we know that He ultimately prayed, “Not My will, but Thine be done” (Lk. 22:42). What an example of a prayer life that brought delight to the Father’s heart and that glorified Him here on earth!
How diligent are we in our prayer life? And how fervent are our prayers? May the desire of our hearts be: “Lord, teach as to pray” (Lk. 11:1).
His Obedience
“Though He were a son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). Why was it necessary for the Son, who came down from heaven to do the Father’s will, to have to learn obedience? For all eternity past, He had perfect fellowship with the Father, dwelling with Him in glory and rejoicing in His love (Jn. 17:5,24). But no personal experience of suffering was His there. Yet coming into a sinful world He soon learned experientially the suffering for righteousness’ sake that was part of obedience to the Father. Nonetheless He chose to obey at the cost of laying down His life (Jn. 10:17).
Faithful amid unfaithfulness, ’mid darkness only light;
Thou didst Thy Father’s name confess, and in His will delight.
—J. G. Deck
How do we measure up to that divine standard of obedience in the life of our Lord? Are we willing to suffer for His sake?
His Example
“Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously” (1 Pet. 2:22-23). How do we react to provocation and insults? Do we not often feel like avenging ourselves instead of committing all to our heavenly Father?
The example He left us is so clear. He faced and endured such contradiction from sinners against Himself, and still dealt with all so graciously. Never did He stretch out His hand to harm anyone. He went about doing good. When Peter tried to use the sword at the gate of Gethsemane to resist the Lord’s imminent arrest, the Lord Jesus asked, “The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” (Jn. 18:11). What dignity! What self-control! What commitment do we see in His behavior! Would that we learn of Him even in a small measure (Rom. 12:17-21).
His Commandments
“If ye love Me, keep My commandments…He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me” (Jn. 14:15, 21). It should be the exercise of our hearts and the outworking of our love to Him that we keep His commandments. He leaves us a new commandment “that ye love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 13:34). His great, unfathomable love is the standard, in that He laid down His life for us. We ought to ask Him to help us learn from Him how to be willing even to “lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 Jn. 3:16).
His Great Commission to go into the world and preach the gospel to all nations is so dear to the Saviour’s heart. It was His parting word to the disciples. How serious are we about sharing the good news with others? And how much time and energy are we willing to spend in doing so?
His Yoke
“My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Mt. 11:30). There is indeed a cost for following Christ and for being His disciple. “And whosoever doeth not bear his cross, and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Lk. 14:27). To follow our Lord now in His day of rejection means to suffer rejection with Him. To stand for Christ and to champion His cause means that we will be cast out of the world’s elite circles and its favorite associations. How do we feel about that? Do we think that it is too great a sacrifice? Or are we willing to follow Him, accepting and indeed proving that His yoke is easy and His burden is light? Do we long that His Holy Spirit will do a work of character building in us, so that we may learn to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 2:3)?
His Walk
“But ye have not so learned Christ, if so be it that ye have heard Him and have been taught of Him, as the truth is in Jesus” (Eph. 4:20-21). The unbelieving people in the world around us are alienated from the life of God. They often give themselves over to a lustful lifestyle (Eph. 4:18-19). The child of God who has learned of the holy life of our Saviour and desires to emulate Him, would walk even as He walked (1 Jn. 2:6).
Thy Name we love Lord Jesus, it tells Thy birth so lowly;
Thy patient grace Thy tenderness, Thy lonely walk so holy.
—W. Yerbury
The believer in Christ is first expected to discard the old manner of life with its deceitful lusts, and then to be renewed in the spirit of his own mind through the power of the Spirit of God, who applies the word of God to cleanse and sanctify him (Titus 3:5). Through the nurturing of the new nature we are to put on that new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:22-24). How can this be done? By spending time regularly with the Lord in prayer, and in meditating on His word, by not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, and by witnessing to others of His saving grace.
May we all delight in sitting at His feet and, like Mary of Bethany, learning of Him.
We wonder at Thy lowly mind, and fain would like Thee be;
And all our rest and pleasure find, in learning Lord of Thee.
—J. G. Deck