Listening To The Voice Of Jesus

by Archibald, M. | Category: N/a | Sept 2006

‘"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

To him who overcomes ..."‘ (Rev.3:20-21 NIV).

How often nowadays do you hear a knock at the door? Isn’t it usually inside the house, and a close friend, showing respect for your privacy? The Lord’s appeal is about that sort of closeness. Even if we think of His approach to the ‘door’ of the assembly, He is looking for intimacy with individuals first. A few praying together, can bring revival to a whole church. That, of course, takes us to your choice and mine, to be active about listening ... and then to respond to the Voice!

We often hear the verse lifted from its setting. But there’s a warning in the following words – ‘"To him who overcomes ..."‘. That suggests it’s the overcomer who will hear the knocking, and will be ready to open up. So what might you or I have to overcome - today, so as to be able to hear again? When we’re preoccupied we don’t hear properly. One strong invader is temptation, which never leaves us alone for long.

Things to overcome - treasures to find

It could be things we like to spend too much time on, God-given appetites which can become corrupted into dangers, like over-eating. ‘"To him who overcomes, I will give ...’’. He longs to release our grasp of the shabby things that hinder, and dull our hearing, and dull our thoughts into the same old routine.

‘Give me ...’, he prayed, the foolish, wilful boy.

He thought that but to have was to enjoy.

A broken, sober man, robbed, hungry, bare,

‘Make me ...’, he prayed ... a wiser prayer.

Much wiser. My possessions may decay:

What I become can no-one take away.

A man’s true worth may be appraised the best

By what he was, not what he possessed.

(J.M.S. Tait)

Or are you burdened with discouragement or disappointment? ‘Let us throw off everything that hinders, and ... fix our eyes on Jesus’ (Heb.12:1-2 NIV). Would you look on His face, and not listen to what He says? The enemy wants to see us loaded down with bitterness about past hurts or failures. Instead, the Saviour says, ‘"I will make him ..."‘. Who would not rather be made by Him into someone valuable again to others?

It may be fear ... anxiety ... or loneliness. May you hear the promise of Jesus today: ‘"I will come in and eat with him ... I will grant [to her or him] to sit down with Me on My throne."‘

Hear the very words of Jesus ...

Would you like now to come close to Jesus of Nazareth, to hear the very words He used at the high points of His work - and the times when He felt very low? The language wasn’t the now classic Hebrew of the Scriptures, or the Greek of the business world. It was the Aramaic He would grow up with in Nazareth. Only a few phrases appear in our Bible, so why just those ones? Mark and Matthew wrote in Greek, for readers of the variety of nations that gathered at the trade-centres in Judea and Phoenicia. It has been suggested that the Aramaic phrases were, firstly, evidence that the Gospel writers had worked from first-hand accounts. Then, Matthew would know the appeal of their first language for Jews who loved the ‘pleasant land’.

Hear a first sample

There is a third reason that we can pick up from the words themselves, in three samples from Mark. First, would you please turn to Mark 5:22-24, 35-42. Let’s listen with John (one of the favoured three, and always a good listener), as he hopes to see more of the power that healed the woman who had touched the Lord’s hem. Now the Lord is beckoning him close, with Peter and James, to go with Him into the house. We pass through the wailing in the first crowded room, and hear the amazing words, ‘The child has not died, but is asleep’, with bitter laughter in reply. Into the room where the still, pale form lies. He’s taking her by the hand, as her father would have done, and says,

‘"Talitha, cumi" ... "Little girl, I say to you, arise."‘

Talitha - a tender word, like the endearment, ‘Lamb’. It’s an intimate, highly charged moment, and that seems to be the third reason for using the original words - the home speech. Think how those for whom English is a second language find far more freedom in their mother tongue to express themselves fully.

Helping others to hear the Saviour’s own words

Have you someone dear to you who’s ill, bowed down, perhaps forced to stay in bed? Hear the Lord’s voice – ‘"I say to you ..."‘. He can speak with tenderness, with understanding. He knows best what’s wrong, and why, and for how long! And only He is able to say to the spirit, ‘Time to get up!’

It’s this way He wants us to speak to one another, gently and with an effort to understand - whatever the past has been, to make sure I am not the hindrance that stops someone hearing Jesus. We’ll learn how through prayer - how to pray for my ill sister or brother. We can make the ‘Nehemiah prayer’ (2:4) before speaking to those we meet - at the Remembrance, or the assembly prayers, when we want to be in harmony with the purpose of being there. Of course the power of that prayer rests on our personal prayer-time, like Nehemiah’s (Neh.1; 2:4).

Closeness to the Lord in assembly prayer

But praying together is also a special learning experience. There we have to listen to understand others’ needs - or joys. If some say a quiet time in the meeting is helpful, or a house meeting, it’s my business to grasp that point with both hands, and co-operate, at least to test how profitable it may be - for others, not just my feelings. Praying together means thinking about the direction, the detail of our requests or thanks. Above all, it’s opening the door to think of the Intercessor through whom we approach (Heb.4:14-16); opening up to His character, and His power. ;"If anyone hears my voice ..."‘.

Listening for our Father’s voice

So to another sample, in Mark 14:32,33,36: ‘And he said, "Abba ..."‘.

Those are very special words, for a lot of reasons! The original language - how did the sleeping disciples know what He had said? Did one of them ask afterwards? Certainly it was recorded by the Spirit as a very special message for all disciples. Remembering our list of troubles, are you under temptation? The message finishes, ‘"Watch and pray ..."‘. It comes from a Saviour who lived the power of watching and prayer.

Why were those privileged three sleeping? For sorrow, we’re told. The events of the last hours, even days, would be exhausting. If you also are discouraged, or deeply troubled, saying like Gideon, ‘"... if the LORD is with us, why ... all this?"‘ then please note - your Lord was discouraged too! He was deeply troubled. He prayed three times, over the very reason for which He had come. The wonderful thing is that the plan wasn’t changed at all. So what do you do when you ask for fresh guidance about the youth-work, and no answer comes, but "Keep going"? Why not think of Who is with you, by your side, caring even more than you about the problem!

When we ask, "Why, Lord?"

Our last sample is from the great words that were said from the Cross ... ‘"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"‘ (Mark 15:33,34).

This study arose from asking why this saying was preserved in Aramaic, out of all the words from the cross. Is it not our same third point, that the mother tongue uniquely expresses intimate moments?

At times, the question "Why?" has to be left with the Lord in trust. But sometimes there is great profit in thoughtful inquiry. Why was the Son of God forsaken? Because God is love, and God is light. Because people needed to come again to the Father, and ‘I AM’ is the only way! There will be a way for others too, if we think about how we speak, or keep silence, in love.

Archibald, M. | Sept 2006
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