The first chapter of John’s Gospel also teaches us who Christ is. John the Baptist twice proclaims him the Lamb of God. Jesus carried that name to the throne of God, and bears it there for all eternity. It has a double meaning. First, it speaks of the work which he has done in giving his blood as a sacrifice for our sins, as the purchase price of our redemption, as the fountain of our cleansing, as the nourishment of our souls. There is no mystery in Scripture deeper than this. We are bought and redeemed with the blood of the Lamb of God. There can be no name more precious to us than his. Let us say to the Lamb, without ceasing and with love and adoration, ‘You are worthy of our praise, because you have redeemed us to God by your blood!’
But his name not only speaks of his work but also of his nature. He is the Lamb of God, the meek and lowly One. In his deep humility and dependence upon God, in his utter self-abnegation before God, in his taking the form of a servant among men, he perfectly displayed the attitude which the creature should have towards his Creator. He taught us something which we could never have seen by ourselves; he showed us that humility is our highest glory, because it glorifies God, and that it is our only blessedness, because it frees us from our self, which is the root of all our misery.
Oh let us follow the meek and lowly Lamb of God, so that we may discover for ourselves that the highest salvation which he can bestow on us is his own humble and gentle nature! What a change would come over the world and the Church if his nature were truly practiced and preached! Whoever truly comes to the meek and lowly Lamb of God and follows him will become meek and lowly like him.
(Excerpted from Christ is All, pg. 74)
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Andrew Murray (1828 - 1917)
Brother Andrew Murray was a well-known writer/preacher in South Africa who ministered amongst the Dutch Reformed churches. His writings now are widely accepted by modern evangelicals and he is published more than ever in his life-time.Some of his better known books titles are: "Abide In Christ", "Absolute Surrender," and "Humility." His burden for the body of Christ were teachings on the abiding Spirit of Christ in the believer, the life of faith with God daily, and the life of intercession and prayer in the Church.
Andrew Murray was possibly the strongest spokesman of the Philadelphian age to expound the Body's necessity to abide in Christ, like the Apostle John before him.
Murray was born into a family of four children in the then remote Graaff-Reinet region (near the Cape) of South Africa. Educated in Scotland, which was followed by theological studies in Holland, Andrew returned to his native land to work as a missionary and minister. Given the daunting task of ministering to Bloemfontein, a remote region of 50,000 square miles and 12,000 people beyond the Orange River, Murray already began to sense the need to for the "deeper Christian life".
Though successful in preaching and bringing many to Christ, Murray found many of his greatest lessons in the School of Suffering, as will all who follow in the path of obedience.
Andrew Murray was one of four children born to Pastor Andrew, Sr., and Maria Murray. He was raised in what was considered to be the most remote corner of the world - Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. Educated in Scotland and Holland, in 1848 Andrew, Jr., returned to South Africa as a missionary and minister with the Dutch Reformed Church. His first appointment was to Bloemfontein, a territory of nearly 50,000 square miles and 12,000 people.
Andrew and his brother John had been in close contact with a revival movement in Scotland, an evangelical extension of the ongoing Second Great Awakening in America. He prayed for the same sort of awakening for the church in South Africa and wrote, "My prayer is for revival, but I am held back by the increasing sense of my own unfitness for the work. I lament the awful pride and self complacency that have till now ruled my heart. O that I may be more and more a minister of the Spirit." (J. du Plessis, The Life of Andrew Murray)
In 1860, revival did come to the churches of Cape Town, South Africa, and subsequently spread to surrounding towns and villages. Even remote farms and plantations felt the impact as lives were changed. Where once the churches had not been able to find one man ready to be a leader for God, the revival raised up 50 in Murray's Cape Town parish alone. There were more conversions in one month in that parish than in the whole course of its previous history. (Leona Choy, Andrew Murray: Apostle of Abiding Love)
Greatly concerned for the spiritual guidance of new converts and renewed Christians, Andrew Murray wrote over 240 books. His writings reflect his own longing for a deeper life in Christ and his prayer that others would long for and experience that life as well.