What does perfection look like?
In Mark 7:37, the multitude praised the Lord Jesus with these words: “He hath done all things well,” and they were right. But I wonder if we spend much time thinking about what those words mean. Our Lord never did anything half-heartedly or second rate. He is the master worker, the heavenly artisan. If His works were on display at a great fair, they would be covered in blue ribbons!
What the multitude said admiringly that day, we can say adoringly and gratefully every day. We who are saved ought to praise and worship our blessed Lord for the perfections of all His work as the Son of Man. “All things well.” Did we ever know the Lord to do things any other way? Of course not!
Perfect works
Did He ever leave anyone halfway healed? We remember the man in Mark 8:24 who received his sight gradually, but he was completely healed—the Lord knew what He was doing and He did it well. Did He ever give the blind vision in one eye, restore only part of the hearing to the deaf, or make a dumb person mutter or mumble instead of giving him clear speech? Did the lame go away limping or staggering? Did the paralytic have to go to therapy to complete his recovery? When He cast out demons, did He ever fail? Did He ever partly raise someone from the dead or say that He couldn’t raise the person because he wasn’t a believer? When all the sick and demon-possessed were brought to Him, did He only heal certain ones?
When He spoke of what His enemies were thinking and saying about Him in their hearts, was He ever wrong? Did anyone ever ask Him a question that He couldn’t answer? Absolutely not! But He asked questions that they couldn’t answer. His knowledge is perfect. Even in Mark 13:32, when He spoke of not knowing the time of His coming, we believe it was in His capacity as the perfect Servant. “A servant does not know what his master is doing” (Jn. 15:15). “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18).
And His teaching—that wonderful, astonishing teaching, so unlike that of the scribes and Pharisees, the theologians of the day. He taught so that the common people could understand and He taught with conviction and authority. From the time of His childhood interview in the temple with the doctors of the law, He amazed all who heard Him. “Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?” they asked in wonder (Mt. 13:54).
When He directed the casting of the net, it never returned empty or half-full, but came in practically bursting with fish. Even the wine that He made from water was the best wine of all! He did all things well.
Perfect salvation
And what shall we say of His mighty work on Calvary’s cross? It was a work perfectly done. Words fail us as we attempt to describe how well He accomplished that which He came to do. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15), and He did a wonderful job; a complete job. Nothing was left to be done when He cried out, “It is finished!”
Did He suffer only for some sins or for the sins of just a few people? Away with such a thought! Hebrews 2:9 proclaims that He tasted death for every man. What if He had only died for the sins that you committed before you were saved? It is a foolish thought because all our sins were future when Christ died on the cross. Sin’s question was completely settled at Calvary by God’s perfect Lamb who took away the sin of the world. “Burdens are lifted at Calvary.” The Lord Jesus Christ has done all things well.
But it doesn’t stop there, does it? How would we understand Scripture without the Holy Spirit whom the Lord has sent? What foundation would the church have if it were other than the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we sealed until the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13) or only until we sin and fail Him? We know the answer, don’t we? No one can pluck us out of His hand.
Moment by moment, all through our lives, He continues to do all things well. As our great High Priest, He sits at the Father’s right hand in the majesty on high, and intercedes for us as we go along our pilgrim way in the spiritual wilderness of this world. He promises that our prayers to the Father in His Name will be answered: “If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.” 1 John 1:9 tells believers that “When we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” He does a wonderful job! The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin. Who wouldn’t want to stay close to a Person like that?
Perfect hope
One blessed day, faith will give way to sight and we’ll see this wonderful Lord and Saviour who does all things well. He’ll come for us just as He promised. He has never broken a promise and never will. He will not come for some of the church, but for all of it. It’s the way He does things! Then He’ll take us to the place that He has gone to prepare for us, and we can only imagine how beautiful and glorious a place it is. We can be sure that He has done that well, too.
When we see Him face to face, we’ll probably exclaim something like what the queen of Sheba did when she was with Solomon: “The half had not been told me!” Throughout eternity we will survey and admire His wonderful person and works, praise Him, and sing “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!” All praise, honor, and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ! He has done all things well.